Novak Gets Her Man
by retwin
Summary: During an Away trip Ronon must protect Dr. Novak and feelings and tempers flair. This is also a Teyla/John S. story.


Title: Novak Gets Her Man

Author: Sidnea Blackstone

Date: 18FEB2006

Rating: AO

Characters: All SGA with Dr. Lindsey Novak and Hermiod

Archiving: If you want it ask me.

Warnings- humor, violence, sex and angst (Not all right away though)

Spoilers: Some of early season 2 SGA

Disclaimers: Definitely not mine.

Summary: Ronon and Novak (Interspersed with Teyla/John and Caldwell/Weir)

Doctor Lindsey Novak was on the verge of another hiccup attack, but manfully she straightened her shoulders and stood straight, "Okay, Hermiod, I'm ready."

"Do not be alarmed, Doctor, Asgard beam technology is safer than Stargate travel." The little grey guy assured her as he typed in the coordinates. "As long as I have done the calculations correctly and I do not rematerialize you within a wall."

Lindsey narrowed her eyes at the spiteful little alien. Hermiod hadn't gotten over their using the beaming technology as a weapons platform. Who knew someone so small could carry a grudge for so long.

"Just hit the button," she muttered. When she'd first been picked to work alongside Hermiod she'd had a case of hero worship, that was gone and now she and the little guy traded barbs and practical jokes.

The latter was thanks to one General Jack O'Neill spending way too much time with Thor and Thor spending too much time with Hermiod. Needless to say Lindsey wasn't particularly happy with said General.

"You shouldn't rush me, Doctor Novak, it could cause error." Hermiod narrowed his own eyes.

Lindsey had, had enough pointing her finger and glaring down at the little alien she began her tirade.

Of course Hermiod chose that moment to engage the beam…

"Listen here little man I can take you and…" Lindsey stumbled to a stop as she realized she'd been beamed into the middle of the Atlantis briefing room. Literally! She was standing in the center of the briefing room table glaring down at a primal looking man that looked as bewildered as she felt.

"Hermiod, I am gonna kick your skinny grey ass from here to Earth and back!" She muttered as she glanced around at the equally shocked faces of the rest of the Atlantis Expedition heads.

When her eyes fell upon the man she'd ended up delivering Hermiod's lecture her eyes widened as he slowly stood from his chair.

"Feisty…" he growled his eyes raking over her from head to toe. "But it'll take more than you to kick my ass."

Dear god! Lindsey's mind shouted and she felt her mouth water. Fidgeting she smoothed a hand over her tightly confined hair.

When her usually quick mind caught up with her racing heart and she realized what he said her eyes widened and she tried to explain.

'_Hiccup_!'  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"I really can't –_hiccup_-apologize enough, Doctor Weir." Lindsey said as she sat in the Atlantis expedition leader's office, trying to rid herself of her incessant hiccupping. Leaning over with her head between her knees trying in vain to drink her hiccups away she plotted, she schemed and she devised a fitting punishment for a certain bare-assed alien ally. "Herm-_hiccup_-iod has been on the new –_hiccup_- Asgard home world –_hiccup_- with Thor for the past –_hiccup_- two months."

"You have no need to apologize." Elizabeth Weir watched the other woman cautiously from her perch a top the edge of her desk. The poor woman had been hiccupping unmercifully since she was beamed into the briefing room practically on top of Ronon. Indeed had Hermiod been off by another foot the good Doctor would have been in the man's lap. "I spoke with Colonel Carter at length on my last trip to Earth and she told me about General O'Neill's…uh…effect on the Asgard Supreme High Commander and his compatriots."

"Thank you, Doctor Weir, you are very kind." Lindsey seemed to be slowly getting over her nervous hiccups.

Oddly, the woman had been fine until Ronon stood up and then she'd turned into a mass of hiccupping nervous energy trying to explain that she hadn't been yelling at him. Even Rodney was aware of the other woman's distress, her stammering and stuttering high-lighted with hiccupping had been too blatant for even the obtuse among them.

Elizabeth was surprised by the woman's reactions, but she had been even more surprised by Ronon's. At first he had been confrontational and then confused, but had moved toward annoyance at her constant hiccupping and jittery nervous movements.

Now the rest of the team was sitting around the boardroom table eating fresh turkey sandwiches. The residents of Atlantis always looked forward to the fresh goods when they came and usually they didn't last more than a day or two. "We should get back in there if you plan on enjoying the turkey Colonel Sheppard requisitioned for this supply run."

Lindsey took a deep breath and consciously calmed her unsettled nerves. Feeling more in control she looked at the other woman, "I think I am ready to rejoin the others for the briefing now."

"Good," Doctor Weir smiled as she took the half drunk glass of water and set it on her desk. "You should call me, Elizabeth. We aren't as formal here as most government run facilities."

"Thank you, Doc- uh- I mean Elizabeth," Lindsey smiled and smoothed her hair back into a tight bun. "You may call me Lindsey."

Lindsey could only thank the stars that she hadn't broken into another fit of hysterical hiccups at the sight of the man she now knew as Ronon Dex. If there was a more perfectly primal cut of man in the two Galaxies she'd never seen one. Of course she'd spent a pretty good chunk of her life with her nose buried in a book or her head in the stars.

She sat half listening to Dr. McKay's diatribe about the utter injustice of having the prime scientific discovery handed off to someone else. That irked her, "Male chauvinist," she muttered as he continued spluttering. He hadn't mentioned her gender, but she'd worked with McKay back on Earth before the whole Russian vacation and he'd always assumed she had the I.Q. of a post-it-note.

Ronon must have heard her because he snorted and then leaned back in his chair pushing away from the table and giving Lindsey a nice view of his muscled thighs. She felt her face flush and her eyes dilate. Flicking her glance to her right she caught Teyla's gaze and felt her flush disappear and her body's natural urge to hiccup start to gain control.

Thankfully, Rodney took that moment to address her. She hadn't heard a word he said, but it didn't matter anyway, because he seemed to be trying to prove his point by her inattention. "I'm sorry Doctor McKay I wasn't listening I was under the impression that you were going to puff an ruffle until we all agreed you have a massively superior intellect, but you stopped talking so obviously I was mistaken."

Lindsey figured that she could prove the old saying, 'you could have heard a pin drop', because the room was so silent. When the big man beside her snorted loudly and then started laughing incessantly it was like a dam breaking.

"She's good," Lindsey felt as well as heard the rough timbre of his voice all the way to the soles of her feet. She also felt a little bit of pride at his words which was silly really.

"As amusing as you all find her it doesn't mean she'd the best person for the job." Rodney interjected his face impassive.

"Rodney enough," Elizabeth said as she stood from her chair. "Doctor Novak is the best person for this assignment. She has more intimate knowledge of the Asgard beam technology than any other scientist in two galaxies. That alone makes her the only option for this cooperative. Besides, you have more than enough to keep you busy studying the data from the Ancient database that our increased power supply unlocked."

Doctor Weir waited for Rodney to take his seat before continuing. "The Regants' are a patriarchal society, Lindsey and are only allowing you to study their rudimentary beaming technology because they have hit a snag. We were warned that an unattached woman would be a temptation as women of marriageable age are a bit scarce."

Lindsey felt her eyes widen and then she couldn't help but laugh. "You don't have to worry about that Doctor Weir I am utterly forgettable. Men never take notice of me." She made a rye face and stood two fingers on the table like a little person. "I think I could probably stand naked in a crowded subway and they would walk right by."

Doctor Weir opened her mouth to respond but it was Ronon's deep rumbling voice that cut through the room. "A woman is a woman is a woman and you underestimate the male species."

When Lindsey turned and found the man raking her body from head to toe with his intense eyes she felt her entire being light up and every inch of her skin started to itch with awareness.

"Well…I…uh…-_hiccup_-," Lindsey could only groan and hide her head in her folded arms on the briefing room table.

Lindsey stared out over the water as she took deep breaths trying to calm her hiccupping. For the love of God why was she born with such a stupid affliction? The Atlantis expedition heads were going to send her packing if she couldn't get it together. Taking another deep breath she stood straight and pushed away from the railing the air on Atlantis was sweet and salty all at once and Lindsey found it incredibly calming.

"Doctor Novak," Teyla called out quietly as she joined Lindsey at the railing. "Is not the city of the Ancestors beautiful?"

"I have literally never seen anything quite so majestic." Lindsey leaned against the railing and watched the water lap gently against the lower level before turning to take in the stained glass salted among the metal construction. "I bet it is even more spectacular at night."

"Indeed Atlantis glows after dark." Teyla's eyes shown with pride as she spoke. "If your people had not come through the Stargate all of this would lie beneath the waters even now and my people would still live in constant fear of the wraith, suffering the wraith's culling without hope."

Lindsey didn't know what to say to the other woman. The most treacherous thing being she'd ever had to deal with was an irate collage Professor. "Your people are on the mainland?"

"Yes, in fact much of the produce Atlantis consumes is from the crops my people plant."

"Do they prefer that to living here?"

"You must understand that my people are hunters and farmers we are used to sleeping with the wind in our faces and the sound of nature surrounding us."

"Do you miss it?" Lindsey asked gesturing over the water.

"I do, but there are things here on Atlantis that makes it…enjoyable." Teyla agreed with a secret smile flitting across her lips. "Besides I am fighting with your people for mine. One day we will be free of the Wraith and on that day I hope we will rejoice as one people."

Lindsey smiled at that and wondered what it would be like to be part of something so heroic. "I hope that I can be helpful here although I can understand Doctor Weir and Colonel Sheppard sending me packing if I can't get over these damned hiccup fits."

Teyla considered her for a moment and then she spoke softly, but with conviction, "You need not be afraid of Ronon."

"I…umm…what," Lindsey asked in her ever articulate way.

"I could not help but notice that Ronon is the cause of your discomfort and I wanted you to know you need not fear him."

Lindsey thought about that for a moment. All of the other times she'd been afflicted had been during times when she was experiencing fear of mortal or scholastic peril, but she didn't feel that type of fear of the big man. What a conundrum, but she was a scientist so she could figure out this puzzle. "I know that, I really do and I can't explain it." She shook her head. "Usually it is my fear of death or failure that sets off the hiccups."

Teyla narrowed her eyes and studied the scientist, "Then perhaps you fear him on a different level?"

"A different level," Lindsey asked incredulously. "What do you mean?"

"You yourself said that men did not notice you, perhaps you see Ronon as a possible mate? Would you not fear such an occurrence?"

Lindsey stared at the other woman in complete shock and then the hiccups she had, had under control were back in full force.

Teyla entered the briefing room leaving Doctor Novak to settle down and think a bit about the things she was suddenly faced with. Her eyes went immediately to John's across the room.

His asked a question and the slight smile and raised brow answered him. She'd told him during the first break whilst they prepared the sandwiches in the commissary what she thought might have been Doctor Novak's problem. John had been clueless as only men can be, but had okayed the idea of Teyla broaching the subject if the opportunity arose.

He had to admit he was surprised the scientist would be interested in Ronon who was a little more than just the rugged soldier type, but to each her own. Now the ball was firmly in his court and he knew that Teyla wouldn't take excuses so he gave her a brief nod and turned to go in search of Ronon.

He wasn't hard to find. He spent as much time eating as Rodney. John approached the big man with no small qualms about what he was getting ready to do. It seemed wrong some how to play match-maker, but after all Rodney and Ronon had played a pretty big part in getting Teyla and he to the point at which they found themselves. Which to John's utter happiness was about three steps from consummation of some pretty deep seeded feelings.

"Ronon," John called out a bit too jovially. John watched as Ronon's eyes narrowed and he sat up straighter in his chair.

"Sheppard," Ronon's eyes followed him as he sat down across from him and begin to torture a paper napkin.

"I am afraid something has come up and I have to ask you to accompany Doctor Novak to Regeara." John plowed ahead even as Ronon inhaled to protest. "The Regants are not a very female oriented society as you might remember from our last visit there with Teyla and if you've forgotten I am sure Teyla still has quite a bit to say on the subject."

"I thought Lorne was going to accompany her," Ronon asked suspiciously.

"Well, Teyla feels that given Doctor Novak's…," John searched for a word that wouldn't sound trite, but could only come up with, "naiveté it might be better to send a more…," Again John cast about for the right word to use. It wouldn't do to insult the guy. Then the word hit him, "Well, a more assertive male figure."

"You mean aggressive and territorial?" Ronon said as he watched the other man fidget in his seat.

"Yeah, that was more along the line of what Teyla was thinking." John said and waited for the other fellow's reaction. Having demolished one napkin he pulled another from the dispenser.

Ronon was quiet for sometime during which he never took his calculating gaze off the unusually nervous colonel. "I have to admit that she is a bit unaware for someone of her years."

John had been ready for fighting, arguments, and down right infantile kicking and screaming…not really, but he hadn't expected the other man's quiet contemplative tone or the words that reached him. John stopped shredding the napkin and looked the other man square in the eye for the first time since he sat down. "I would say that is a pretty accurate assessment. So, you'll do it?"

"Does she have any knowledge of self defense," Ronon asked as he picked up his cup and went to place it in the bin to be washed. Then he cleared the rest of his trash and moved to throw it away. "We already know she can verbally spar, but does she know how to defend against physical attack?"

"Novak is a scientist, not military, so I can't be sure what training she has or hasn't had." John said as he scraped his defeated napkins into one hand and followed Ronon to the disposal unit. "I have her file and if you agree to be her escort I'll let you read it, but we need to act quickly because she is due to arrive on Regeara the day after tomorrow."

Ronon stopped short of exiting the commissary and then turned to face John. "I'll go with her."

"Good I was hoping you would agree," John nodded and glanced away from Ronon nervous again. "After you read her file maybe you should schedule some time to go over the basics…you know hand-to-hand, hand signals and which end of a nine millimeter the bullet comes out of."

"We only have thirty-six hours, Sheppard. She's been on base for four hours and all she's managed to finish is thirteen glasses of water, eight packets of sugar and only about a forth of one of our, usually short but sweet, twenty minute briefings." Ronon clapped Sheppard on the back with a rye expression playing across his face, "I think you are overestimating my abilities this time."

John watched the man as he headed back to the briefing room. He had to admit that Ronon had a point about it had been the longest damned briefing he'd ever been in and he was running out of things to do while Rodney blathered. On the bright side Teyla was planted at the table right beside him and there was never anything wrong in his world with Teyla by his side.

When he reached the briefing room everyone was already seated at the table waiting. Elizabeth was fiddling with her palm pilot and Rodney was giving Doctor Novak a condescending stare. It wasn't anything John hadn't been on the receiving end of, but he felt sort of bad that Rodney was tormenting the already nervous scientist.

Having arrived late he missed McKay's words, but arrived just in time to hear Novak's, "So, Doctor McKay I have been meaning to ask how you enjoyed your year in Russia?"

Rodney narrowed his eyes and started to say something, but Ronon shifted forward and laid his arm across his shoulders. When the scientist turned to him and opened his mouth to speak Ronon shook his head in warning.

Rodney glared at the other man, but settled back in his seat to listen.

"Alright let's get this over with," John said as he went to stand behind Teyla's chair. "Elizabeth and I spoke at great length during our last…" he glanced at Novak before continuing. "Intermission and we decided that I would take care of my end of this meeting so that we can expedite the mission."

When no one offered a complaint John continued, "I have gone over our mission reports for Regeara and have decided that Ronon will be Doctor Novak's escort."

Rodney snorted and Ronon turned a threatening glance on him. John was glad to see that Rodney didn't make anything else of the decision. Teyla was smiling that little self satisfied smile he'd come to realize meant he'd been a very good boy and Doctor Novak sat eyes wide but hiccoughs noticeably absent. Nodding his approval he continued by passing a file to Ronon and one to Novak. "I figure the two of you should get to know a little about each other before you gate to Regeara. Doctor Novak I would like to evaluate your readiness and to that end have set up a schedule for you and Teyla to go over some simple self defense." He nodded toward Ronon, "After that I would like you and Ronon to do some work at the firing range."

Lindsey nodded and then looked at Ronon her eyes huge, "Yes, sir," she breathed. She was holding her hiccoughs at bay, but only just. Swallowing hard she looked down at the file in front of her. It was relatively thin and seemed at odds with the large and rugged looking man across the table from her, running her fingers gently over the file as though it were the man himself.

"Some of the stuff you read in there," His deep voice at her side made her jump and she meet his eyes nervously before glancing around and realizing she hadn't notice the meeting ending. "It's not pretty."

"What?" She asked as she glanced back at him again. His eyes were just as intense as she remembered, but they seemed a bit troubled.

"My file," he pointed to the folder she was still lightly stroking. "There are things in there you might find disturbing." He glanced away into the distance and his eyes clouded for a moment and she could imagine he was seeing some memory that would never be far from his mind. "Sheppard said I would be reading your file, but I didn't realize that meant you would also be reading mine. I didn't want you to read that," he gestured to his file with his chin, "without being warned that there are some not nice things in there."

Lindsey looked down at the file and then turned her eyes back to his, "Thank you," she stammered. "I guess I should warn you that my file is going to be as interesting as reading the phonebook, but…" She shrugged and gave him a tentative smile.

She watched as his eyes sparkled at her comment. He shook his head and held up her file which was three times thicker than his. "You have been anything but boring, Doctor Novak."

Then she watched as he turned on his heel and left the room. She was awed by his loose hipped gate and the way he seemed to stand tall and yet slouch all at the same time. Her mind was doing a lot of thinking and her body was telling it a thing or two, which was extremely odd for bookish and straight-laced, Lindsey Novak.

Opening his file she found her self staring into the intense eyes of a man she was getting ready to go off world with for three weeks. The only thing she could think was that she was in so much trouble.

_~hiccup~_

Lindsey sat in the briefing room reading Ronon Dex's personnel file from cover to cover last night. When Colonel Sheppard realized she was still there at the Atlantis equivalent of midnight he'd found her there eyes puffy and red rimmed balled up tissues in a haphazard pile around her. He'd watched her as she gathered her soggy tissues and helped her carry her bag to a room that would be hers for the duration of her stay on Atlantis.

She figured the humiliation of being found crying like an adolescent was a fitting end to a day after hiccoughing her way through her first meeting here. Putting her bag beside the door she looked around the room. It was beautiful. The Ancients had aesthetic tastes that made for elegantly haunting décor and Lindsey was in love with the place from her first site. It was feeling like home and that for her was a rarity.

Stripping out of her flight suit she pulled her hair from its tight bun. Retrieving her brush she began rhythmically pulling the bristles through her hair. She was clothed in her usual flight suit undergarments a black sports bra and spandex shorts. She sat on the bed and admired the candle flame flickering against the stained glass of the window. She felt the word home to her very center and she closed her eyes contemplating that thought.

She'd spent the last year with Hermiod working to get the Asgard beams and shields installed on the Daedalus. Though she had spent a great deal of time on the ship and base she'd felt out of place with everyone except Hermiod. He seemed to understand her way of thinking and he'd even appreciated her intellectual abilities, and indeed she felt a certain fondness for him, a familial connection.

Hermiod was going to be returning to the new Asgard home world and had told her that he wasn't sure he would be returning. At first she'd been hurt and angry that the one being that seemed to see her would be leaving her like…well like her parents, but now after seeing Atlantis and breathing the air she was home. Opening her eyes she looked around she wanted to see the city by night.

Closer inspection of the window beside her bed revealed that it opened out onto a balcony like the one off the Stargate command center. Smiling happily when it opened with a soft sigh she grabbed a pillow and candle she headed out to see what she could see.

There was only a slight breeze, but her candle flickered out. It didn't matter though because Teyla had been right the city glowed like crimson and gold fire against the velvety blackness of the Pegasus sky.

Taking a deep breath she stood head back and feet together. She stood like this for a few moments. The day had been stressful and finding her physical center was a bit harder than she expected seeing that she felt so welcomed by the city. Her mental center which was usually the hardest to find was easily found and once she had her body relaxed she began her Kata.

Nèijiā was her nightly ritual to gain internal strength and peace to ease her into sleep. In the morning she would wàijiā, which literally meant, supreme ultimate fist, waking her body and readying it for the long rigorous days hunched over a desk or computer. It was something that she found peaceful, but also useful. Nèijiā was a soft kata and mostly internal, but wàijiā was a routine that had a basis in the Shoalin system and was a harder more external practice.

There were five animal styles in this art, but Lindsey prefered the Crane style. Which utilized the body as well as on occation a long wooden staff, but she hadn't practiced the staff work in over three years. Slowly with painstacking presicion she losened her muscles and let the kata flow from her being like water.

Ronon stood in the dark shadows of the balcony outside his room and watched as Doctor Novak exited her room. It was not a surprise that Sheppard had assigned her the room beside his. It was in fact to be expected. Sheppard knew enough about him to know that Ronon would want to observe the woman and learn her.

Ronon sat perfectly still used to long stretches of inactivity in his Running days either laying in wait or hiding away. He was surprised she hadn't noticed him when she first came out and he'd been bathed in the light of his own room.

When she'd appeared on the balcony with the candle and small pillow he'd wondered if she intended to sleep beneath the stars. She had looked at the city with wonder on her face, but when she'd tossed the pillow to the floor and set the candle beside it and began her exercise it was Ronon that had to stare in wonder.

She was physically fit although not so much as Teyla and her skin was pale, glowing in the backlight of the windows behind her. She wore form fitting cloths Ronon had seen many of the Earth females wearing for their work outs. He had to admit that she looked more feminine than when she'd arrived in that baggy flight suit.

Her clothing wasn't the only differences he noted. Her hair was which had been tight against her scalp was loose and hung to the middle of her back glowing like fire flames in the light.

Ronon studied her as she moved slowly and deliberately in a steady progression from one maneuver to the next. He admired the way she settled her tight muscles into a fluid gracefully relaxed routine.

When she finished her exercise and then languidly draped herself over the railing Ronon felt oddly compelled to go to her. Even though the stretches she'd done were for relaxation she still had a healthy sheen of sweat on her flesh and that was something he found very attractive on a woman.

His eyes were riveted to her as she stood and arms stretched over her head let out a breathy little sigh of contentment before heading back into her room. Ronon could see her stretched like that over his pallet, could hear those sighs slipping past her lips as he worked her to that same shimmering sweatiness. If there was one thing Ronon knew for certain about the men of Earth it was that they may be intelligent, but they were also blind if they couldn't see Doctor Lindsey Novak, the woman.

Novak Gets Her Man

Lindsey woke and for a moment forgot where she was. There was a diffused glimmer of light filtering through the window beside her, but she was very sure that it was artificial. Turning over she snuggled deeper into her bed hugging her pillow to her chest. She was also quite sure she hadn't awakened on her own and when the tapping at her door sounded again she was proven correct.

"Go…way," she muttered and closed her eyes to seek the peaceful slumber she'd been so ruthlessly dragged from. She'd just snuggled her face into her pillow and concentrated on retrieving her dream when she heard the musical chirp of her door opening. Grasping her extra pillow she flung over her shoulder in the general direction of the door and growled, "I said go away I'm sleeping."

"You don't look very asleep to me," Ronon's voice was such a shock that Lindsey came crashing into wakefulness out of that hazy place between being awake and drifting toward sleep.

With a startled yelp she was on her knees in her bed and the heavy candle from the table in her right hand. When she finally realized who was standing before her she narrowed her eyes and glared at him. "Want to give ~hiccup~ me a reason ~hiccup~ not to brain you with th~hiccup~ uh…this?" She asked as she hefted the heavy candle up for his inspection.

"Like I said yesterday, feisty," Ronon smirked at her ignoring her question. "You need to get dressed we are going for a run."

"I ~hiccup~ don't think so ~hiccup~ mister," She put the candle down and pushed her hair from her face. "I don't ~hiccup~ run unless some ~hiccup~ thing is chasing me."

"That so," Ronon asked smiling as he hugged her fluffy pillow shaped projectile from earlier to his chest.

"Of course ~hiccup~ my own personal ~hiccup~ credo." She hiccoughed her way through her smart assed reply all the while wishing she was that pillow, which was disturbing on an elemental level that was cause enough for her to stick with barbed comments and acid looks.

"I guess you'll have to start running then," Ronon tossed her pillow to her and then turned for the door. "I'll even give you a ten minute head start. So get shoes on and head out we have a busy day ahead of us. Sheppard made sure of that."

"I am not ~hiccup~ running," she crossed her arms over her baggy t-shirt as though to say…nana-nana-boo-boo you can't make me.

"You'll run because your trip off world to Regeara depends on it," Ronon said as he reached the door and turned to eye her from the top of her tangled red head to the sheets twisted around her legs which were encased in a baggy material that hide too much in Ronon's opinion. "And change into the things you were wearing last night after we run we have to meet up with Teyla for some self defense training."

Confused Lindsey squinted at him, "My flight ~hiccup~ jumper," she asked as she tried to imagine physical training in the jumpsuit. It didn't seem like a very comfortable idea.

"No, the cloths you wore during your exercise last night on our balcony." He told her and then he was gone leaving her shocked and dismayed.

They shared a balcony was her first thought, the second was that he'd seen her in her underclothes and third was that he actually expected her to run. As in not walking, but running, obviously he was insane.

Tossing another acid look toward the door she slithered back down into her bed with every intention of going back to sleep until the sun or what ever light source Atlantis had was present and accounted for.

She'd barely settled down into a comfy position and was on the edge of sleep when the door from the balcony slid open with a sigh and Ronon was standing over her again. "I told you ten minutes it has been eleven." His voice was heavy with censure.

"Too fast for me," she said as she blinked open one eye. "You win now I'm going back to sleep." She turned over and hugged her pillow tightly to her chest.

Ronon whipped her blanket aside and physically sat her up until she was looking him in the eye. "In this galaxy the ability to run is the difference between life and death, Doctor Novak and since Sheppard has put your life in my hands you will get out of bed and you will run if I say you will." He glanced around the room and found the tiny pile of her discarded clothing and pointed to them. "Now either you put those on and you get ready for this run on your own or I do it for you and believe me that is something I intend to enjoy."

Lindsey simply nodded and scooted to the edge of the bed picking up her discarded undergarments she went into the tiny bathroom and swiftly changed into the black sports bra and shorts. When she emerged she found Ronon standing with his eyes on the horizon he looked pensive.

She had obviously upset him deeply with her refusal to run and it wasn't until she was pulling her sneakers from her bag that she saw his file and remembered his history. He had been a runner, never able to stay in one place for long without bringing the wraith down upon him and others. Running had literally saved his life.

She put on her socks and shoes and all the while he stood not looking at her. When she was finished she retrieved her pins and set about pinning her hair into her usual bun. "Leave it down," he commanded and his eyes were inscrutable when she met them across the room.

"It will get in the way," she said as she continued to push pins into her hair. She was almost finished when she felt him standing close behind her.

"You are a stubborn woman," he said as he glared down at her. When he raised his hands she had to steady herself not to flinch and was surprised at the gentle way he began plucking the pins from her hair. She was having a hard time ignoring his closeness, but the last straw was when he pushed his fingers through her hair fluffing it out to fall against her shoulders.

"And you ~hiccup~ are a Neand ~hiccup~ erthal," she stammered. He gave her an amused smile and then turned for the door.

"Come it is time to run. I'll be nice and only make you run the mile to the east pier gym."

Lindsey followed him, muttering under her breath, out into the hallway where he instructed her in the proper breathing and stretching necessary for effective running. He didn't know whom he was dealing with if he thought she'd make it to the east pier gym alive, but she figured her death would at least get her out of any further early morning jaunts.

Lindsey was dying and the best part about that was that she wasn't going to have to run the rest of the way to the gym. She'd held her own for the first quarter of the run and might have even been enjoying herself.

Not the running part, the watching the backside of the tyrannical man in front of her part. However, at about the quarter mile mark she'd lost any ability to breath and even the 'Muscular Ass', the man and his behind's new name, ahead couldn't run a dead horse.

She tried to call out and let him know she'd decided to make the middle of this pier her new resting place, but oxygen was pretty scarce and she did after all want to die in peace. Choosing the softest looking metal surface she stopped, dropped and lay face planted on the cool metal deck heaving for breath.

She knew he'd come back when she felt the urge to hiccough rising again, but the up side of being oxygen deprived was that she couldn't even work up a good fear to get the blasted things going. "Go awab," she muttered without lifting her head.

"What?" He asked a smirk in his voice.

"I saib go awab," Lindsey reiterated flicking the fingers of her left hand in what she hoped was a dismissal. She felt her ability to breathe coming back and she was pretty sure that if she stopped running now she would live to hiccough again. Surprisingly that was a mixed blessing.

"Come on," Ronon's voice was deep and commanding but unlike earlier when he had ordered her to dress it didn't send her into obedience mode, that was another good side effect of being near death the total lack of self preservation. With what little strength remained in her body she flipped onto her back and glared at the man kneeling beside her.

"Listen up," she said poking a finger into his chest and narrowing her eyes to get her point across. "I have spent the last year in a tiny room on a tiny ship where the only pressing matters took place with in fifteen feet of where I happened to be. No running needed."

"I saw you exercise last night you are not out of shape." Ronon said as he stared down at the still poking finger and then his eyes found hers from under his arched brow. "You just weren't breathing the way I showed you."

She thought about that for a moment, "As a matter of fact never in my- boring, uneventful, and scientifically centered life have I ever had to run anywhere. I wasn't breathing the way you showed me because it was impossible."

"No it isn't, I saw your muscles last night," Ronon said as he grasped her poking finger and turned her arm so that her sensitive inner arm was exposed. "You are not a weak woman, Lindsey Novak."

She watched as he raised his other hand to her tingling arm and gentle ran it from wrist to elbow. At the first stroke she froze and even forgot who and where she was, by the second she was breathing again, and by the third she was sure she might be hyperventilating.

"What are you doing?" She asked weakly her eyes riveted on his. She was starting to feel euphoric and increasingly energetic.

"Stimulating your body to achieve a chemical and respiratory response to off set your exhaustion," He smiled down at her, "So that you will be able to at least walk to the gym."

"Chemical and respiratory response," Lindsey asked as her mind conjured pictures of what he could do to her body if that was what happened when he simply stroked her arm. She had a sneaking suspicion that he meant he'd used sexual stimulation to hype up her body, but she wasn't about to start that conversation. The sneaky Muscled Ass!

"Honestly you ran farther than I expected on our first day." He stopped stroking her arm and helped her to her feet her trembling legs wobbled slightly and he put an arm around her shoulders for a moment to steady her. Then he released her and started walking in the same direction he had been leading her before. "You will be able to run circles around Atlantis by the time we get back from Regeara."

Lindsey had walked about five feet when his last words finally hit her brain. Then she stopped dead for a moment. He expected her to run everyday the sadistic bastard, but his quietly murmured words about her not being weak took any malice from her thoughts.

Ronon actually thought she was strong and by god she'd do her best to prove him right, but she'd also find some way to pay him back for using her body's sexual response to get what he wanted from her.

Men never paid attention to Lindsey and she had gotten to the point that she usually just ignored them on a personal level rather than suffer rejection over and over again. It was disconcerting to realize that this primal looking man didn't ignore her. In fact it was the opposite he saw her and he even knew that he could arouse her, but what exactly did all that mean.

She'd usually stayed well clear of men that could hurt her emotionally, but this time he was part of her work and that was a risky situation both personally and professionally. When she walked into Ronon's back she realized he'd stopped and she hadn't even noticed.

Ronon turned and looked down at her, his eyes intense making her five foot seven inches, seem like nothing.

"What," she asked her voice a whisper as she searched his eyes. He was frowning and giving her such a concentrated stare.

"Nothing," his voice was rough and just above a whisper, "just this…"

If Lindsey was unprepared for him to reach up with both hands thrusting them into her hair and angling her head to the side, she was utterly shocked when he lowered his mouth to hers and took it with single minded hunger.

Ronon's kiss was predatory and he took all she was with his strong lips and stroking tongue. She felt her body responding to his possession. The way he thrust his tongue deep made her whimper with the need for more. Her fingers twisted in his sweater and gloried in the feel of his muscular chest beneath.

When Ronon broke the kiss and stepped away it took Lindsey a few seconds to open her eyes. She was half afraid of what she might see when she looked at him. She was all too aware that she'd never given a kiss or received one like that before. When finally she met his eyes she saw anger and it shocked her. He was still so close and she could feel the tightness of his body and the anger that rolled off of him and into her.

"I'm sorry," She whispered a catch in her voice and the sting of unwanted tears at the back of her eyes. She wasn't sure what she was sorry for; sorry I can't kiss, sorry I responded, sorry you didn't like it. It really didn't matter they were all jagged pieces stabbing her heart.

Her words seemed to anger him more and the look in his eyes was lethal pushing away from her with a growl he turned and walked away. He'd walked several feet and still she was unable to move from the spot he'd left her. Looking around she found that at some point he'd pinned her to the low sea wall and she'd been unaware that they'd even moved. No wonder the guy was angry it must have been a really bad kiss.

When her eyes followed him she noticed he'd stopped, waiting for her to catch up, but he hadn't turned around to goad her as he'd done while they ran and his back was so ramrod straight she'd never seen him stand that erect. He was an imposing figure that was for damned sure.

Taking a deep breath she hurried to catch up with him. He didn't say a word as they completed their walk to the gym. When they arrived they found Teyla and John in the middle of a sparring session and Lindsey was amazed at how fluid Teyla's movements were.

The wooden sticks flying and the two sparred with vigor. "They must trust each other very much," she murmured and was shocked when she heard Ronon reply.

"They do," Ronon said as he watched his two friends spar.

"I wonder if two staves are more difficult than one long one," she asked trying to push the atmosphere their kiss had created away.

"You have used a staff before?" His voice was deep and his angry troubled eyes had softened a bit.

"Not for a few years, but my morning kata sort of like the one I did last night can be done empty handed or with a staff." Lindsey giggled when she watched Teyla perform a move that threw the Colonel's attack off and ended with her swatting him on his backside as he passed. "It is called wàijiā and it is a building of external power and can be used for either offensive or defensive fighting." She was oddly glad she'd taken up the art on a whim seven years ago. Ronon seemed to find her ability pleasing and oddly that made her happy. "Last night I was doing nèijiā which is a soft more internal kata meant to relax and ease tension from the body so that sleep will be more satisfying."

"Yet, when I woke you this morning you were reluctant to rise." He said and Lindsey was glad he had reverted to that easy smirk she'd come to associate with him and was no longer outwardly angry with her.

"You miss understand," she said arching her brow and giving him a smirk of her own. "If you'd have awakened me for anything other than running I would have been all for it."

"Anything," he asked quietly and his eyes grew intense reminding her of the moments before he'd kissed her.

Not wanting him to be reminded of that horribly failed attempt she back pedaled, "I- well...Uh… ~_hiccup_~," For some reason her hiccoughs were more mortifying in the wake of their disastrous kiss and she felt her face heat with an embarrassed flush.

"Ronon," Colonel Sheppard called from his place beside the now gloriously lit window of the gym. "Doctor Novak, good morning."

~_hiccup_~

Lindsey closed her eyes and counted to ten and found that her, desire to hiccough dissipate. "Please call me Lindsey, Colonel, and good morning to the both of you." She entered the gym followed by Ronon. "That was amazing, Teyla."

"Thank you," She smiled graciously and then looked to Ronon with a smile before looking back at Lindsey. "Did I hear correctly? You have used a staff in battle before?"

"Oh, no…I mean yes I can use a staff, but I have never…you know done battle." Lindsey shook her head and laughed at the very thought of herself in battle. "I have only used my kata as a means of physical training."

"Well, let's see what you've got," Colonel Sheppard said as he picked up a staff and offered it to her. Lindsey took it and then fidgeted a moment before going to stand in the middle of the room. She hadn't done her kata in the presence of others in nearly five years and she had to admit that being the focus of so many eyes was disconcerting to say the least.

"I haven't done this," She gestured to the staff, "in two years so I might not be any good at it."

"But you have done it," Teyla asked.

"Yes, but I haven't had room to practice with a staff for years. This is a kata that takes a great deal of space when not empty handed." She stood in the room her staff at her side her feet spread to shoulder width and lowered her head taking deep breaths. When she found her center she lifted her staff and tucked it into her elbow and grasped it firmly with her right hand, so that it was an extension of her arm. And could be used to attack or block in front of her as well as behind over her shoulder.

Slowly she began to practice the wide sweeping movements of the kata and found that though she fumbled the staff a couple of times the movements were still familiar to her. Bumping the staff from her shoulder she flipped it under her arm and thrust it forward in a tiger-crane offensive move and then swept it in a wide arch to the side. Twisting she knelt now facing away from them she angled the staff so that it was across her back and her arms were out stretched in the Morning Crane.

After a moment she tossed the staff to the floor having reached the end of her memory as to it's incorporation in her kata and began the swift yet controlled kata. She thrust her arms out to her sides and then twisted sweeping low and facing the others once again her concentration deep as she preformed the rest of the movements from her daily ritual.

When her eyes focused on the shocked and admiring looks on the others faces she felt herself blush.

"That was very beautiful, Lindsey." Teyla's calm voice and soft smile warmed her. Lindsey stood straight and fidgeted before meeting Ronon's pleased gaze. She was glad to have pleased him with her knowledge and was so lost in his gaze she nearly missed Teyla's next words. "You will have no difficulty adapting your knowledge into hand-to-hand battle. Indeed the power you harness with such exercises will be formidable against an opponent."

Lindsey was a bit shocked, "Oh, I could never hit a person," She stammered as she shook her head looking at Teyla incredulously.

"You can and will," Ronon said his eyes stony as he met hers and he moved to stand in front of her invading her personal space. "We are going to an admittedly peaceful planet, but also a planet where women are little more than possessions to be used as barter or taken whether they wish it or not."

Lindsey narrowed her eyes and she took a step closer to the growling man and poking him in the chest, "You are a domineering cretin you know that?" _Poke._ "First you drag me out of bed before the sun is up and threaten to dress me if I won't do it myself." _Poke._ "You want me to wear this, so I wear it." _Poke._ "You want my hair down so you take it down." _Poke._ "You make me run…RUN mind you for a quarter mile nearly killing me," _Poke._ ",and I would think that after one kiss you'd know that no one would want me by force or from genuine desire!" She stepped menacingly close and poked him in the chest again. "Besides isn't that why I get the pleasure of your officious company? To fend off the hordes of men that is lining up to ravish me even as we speak," she demanded and then emphasized her words by thumping him in the center of his muscled chest.

Lindsey was extremely shocked at her behavior. Never had she ever been so out spoken with any man, let alone one that towered over her by a good nine inches. Ronon's eyes glittered and his jaw was clenched as he trapped her hand against his chest with one hand and stepped even closer to her. She wasn't sure what to expect but his muttered, 'You are crazy," wasn't it.

His voice was so low and rough that she felt it to her core and when he stepped away raking his eyes over her from head to toe she shivered from their almost intimate touch. When he swung away from her abruptly and stalked out of the gym she was transfixed with the overwhelming thought that maybe just maybe he actually wanted her.

Realizing she wasn't alone in the room she focused on the two unwilling witnesses to her tirade. Colonel Sheppard stood with his mouth agape and Teyla had an almost contemplative look in her eyes. When her mind played back everything she'd flung at the tyrannical man she felt herself blush. No wonder he thought she was crazy. Opening her mouth to explain, what she had no clue, but explain none the less all she could do was groan as her hiccoughs returned in the wake of her embarrassment.

Lindsey spent the better part of the day in the gym with Teyla learning to adapt her kata training for use in combat. Teyla showed her ways of breaking away from an attackers hold and how to get the maximum strength behind her retaliatory strikes. Lindsey practiced her hits on the practice dummy, but refused to practice against Teyla herself.

"I assure you I would not inflict damage to your person, Doctor Novak." Teyla was sincere in her words and Lindsey didn't want to upset the other woman.

"It isn't that, Teyla." Lindsey buried her face in the towel and wiped the sweat from her brow. "I am more afraid that I will hurt you." Shaking her head she laughed, "I am a bit accident prone on top of my hiccoughing gene."

"You must understand that the planet to which you'll gate tomorrow though peaceful is not one at which you will be respected." Teyla entreated her with her eyes to hear her and understand. "You are mistaken to think you are undesirable."

Lindsey found herself wanting to laugh at Teyla's words until a certain set of intense eyes green eyes flashed across her mind. Shaking her head in denial she slumped onto the window seat.

"Ronon has been with us many months now and never have I seen him act as he did with you earlier." Teyla sat slowly beside her, "You said earlier that he kissed you. That also is contrary to his character."

"Oh, that…that…~_hiccup_~ was just his way of…of…~_hiccup_~" Lindsey didn't know what they hell he'd been doing and honestly she hadn't cared at the time. Burying her face in her towel she started laughing uncontrollably which, helped rid her of her hiccoughs.

She laughed so hard she literally cried. "Oh, god I haven't a clue what I'm doing."

"I have felt as you do," Teyla assured her and placed a comforting hand on the girls shoulder. "It is sometimes difficult to understand the male species. The best we can hope is to understand ourselves and be whom they need by being who we were born to be."

"Then I am totally screwed," Lindsey said on a sigh. She could have been voted least likely to understand herself in high school and it hadn't gotten better since she became an adult.

"That is not so. You are confident in your work and you stood toe to toe against a man, that even, the Marines of this base fear." She smiled knowingly at Lindsey. "I believe it was both your 'feistiness' and your peculiar affliction that first attracted Ronon."

"You have got to be joking," Lindsey locked her incredulous gaze on Teyla's.

"No, I am quite serious."

"No one ever notices me," Lindsey said in awe.

"Perhaps that is because you had not yet met the person to which, your soul has been bound?"

Lindsey thought about that for a moment. She'd seen lots of men in her twenty-eight years and she'd dated, disastrously a few times, but never had she reacted so wantonly with any other man on or off of Earth. She couldn't speak for Ronon, but their earlier kiss lit fires within her that would never fully be extinguished. "I don't know Teyla he seemed so angry after we kissed I must have botched it terribly."

"I do not believe his anger was because you 'botched it', I believe he was most likely angered that he acted upon his desire. Ronon is not a man to enjoy the experience of being out of control."

Lindsey's eyes widened, "You think he lost control?"

"I do," Teyla smiled at her, "He does not often submit to the will of others and can be very domineering as you pointed out this morning."

"Yes, I noticed his penchant for bossiness." Lindsey ran her fingers through her hair and realized her liked having it loose. She'd found herself fingering it often through out her training. One problem was that it was all the same length and therefore hung lankly to the middle of her back. "If he's going to demand that I wear my hair down I am going to need to get it styled."

"Then come let us shower and I will introduce you to the girl who has cut my hair since I arrived here at Atlantis." Teyla swung her bag onto her shoulder. "We should have plenty of time before you are due at the firing range to shower, have your hair styled, change and get something to eat."

Lindsey followed Teyla feeling for the first time as though she'd connected with her and was actually on the way to making an honest to goodness friend that wasn't three feet tall, grey and naked.

Teyla it turned out loved cloths and had an eye for fashion. She helped Lindsey chose a professional looking cut that left her layered to just above her shoulders adding a bit of bounce to the once lifeless looking hair and she went through all of Lindsey's cloths picking out a soft black sweater that exposed a good deal of her shoulders.

Lindsey had only ever worn it over a sport top because the open shouldered style didn't allow for a bra, but Teyla had produced a buttery soft piece of leather that wrapped confined and supported better than anything she'd ever worn before. In fact it seemed to enhance her assets better than anything Victoria's Secret could have produced.

The rest of her outfit consisted of black jeans that had been an impulse buy at a sale on her last trip planet side to Earth. They hadn't been worn, because she rarely wore anything, but her flight suit of late. Lindsey wore a pair of black flats that she usually wore for meetings. Vikki, the girl who had cut her hair, helped her apply her make-up so lightly it would appear she wasn't wearing any at all.

When she saw herself in the mirror she couldn't believe her eyes. She looked…pretty…softer and less harsh. "You guys are miracle workers," she said in awe, "I'll never be able to do this by myself."

"Of course you will, darlin', it ain't nothin' but runnin' a comb through it in the morning and alls ya gotta do is put a bit of liner here and smudge a bit of this gloss on your lips and you'll look just as pretty as ya do right now." The southern girl was very flattering and Lindsey wanted to ask her if she'd mind following her around all day throwing out the odd uplifting flattery here and there, but restrained herself.

"Come we must go eat if we are to make it to the jumper bay in time for our trip to the shooting range."

They enjoyed companionable lunch and shared a large slice of chocolate spoon cake that was so rich Lindsey would never have been able to finish a whole slice on her own. They spoke about life on Atlantis and Teyla's people on the mainland and Teyla even confided that she had deep feelings for someone on Atlantis.

Teyla told her the story of how they met Ronon and also shared a few amusing stories that Lindsey was sure the man would rather never be uttered in the light of day. Such as sneaking up on Rodney with the intent to scare him while off-world. Only to be hit with the wraith stunner the scientist had been fiddling with at the time.

All in all the hour until they were to head to the jumper bay past all too quickly, but Lindsey was glad to find out that Teyla would be joining them on the jumper ride. The Athosian's were almost to the end of their growing season and we planning a large harvest festival to celebrate after the crops had been harvested. Teyla assured Lindsey she would be back in plenty of time to attend the festival.

They were the first to arrive in the jumper bay, but didn't have to wait long until Colonel Sheppard arrived. He looked from Teyla to Lindsey and a smile crossed his features, "Wow, Doctor Novak," was all he said but he nodded his approval and Lindsey blushed.

"Thank you, Colonel." She murmured and looked around for Ronon. He hadn't arrived yet and when Colonel Sheppard sat down at the controls and started the puddle jumper she felt her spirits fall to her feet. He wasn't coming. With a sigh she took the seat behind Teyla and fought her disappointment.

She watched the way Colonel Sheppard carefully glanced over toward Teyla and watched her as she settled into her seat and was struck for the first time by the idea that perhaps the man Teyla had spoken of earlier was Colonel Sheppard.

Lindsey watched as he smiled softly when Teyla was settled and then clicked his radio, "Ronon, what is taking you so long?"

"Nothing," his deep voice came from the back of the puddle jumper and Lindsey turned to watch him put two metal ammo boxes and three P90's into the webbing above the bench seat in the cargo hold of the jumper.

When he turned and spotted her she couldn't breathe his eyes were just as intense as they had been this morning and that was startling. He crossed the space between them and lifted a hand as though he was going to touch her hair, but he stopped himself tightening his hand into a fist.

"What did you do to your hair?" He demanded as he glared down at her. She had been expecting admiring glances and compliments not the accusing look or the rough demands. "I liked it the way it was."

Even John realized that Ronon was in trouble without even glancing at Teyla, so it was no surprise when he heard Doctor Novak's cutting tone. "And who said I care how you like my hair? You are the one that insisted I wear it down and in wearing it down I found it was limp and decided to get it styled." She glared at him and then added, "I happen to like it this way so I guess you'll just have to get over it."

Folding her arms across her chest she turned away from him and stared a hole in the back of Teyla's Chair. Ronon was aggravated that she would cut her hair, because he'd liked her hair and the way it swayed across her shoulders while she preformed her exercises. He'd liked tunneling his fingers through it and using it to anchor her in place for his kiss.

He only started to understand the trouble he was in when John shot him a sympathetic glance and then flicked his eyes toward Teyla. When Ronon followed that glance he found a fiercely frowning Teyla glaring at him over her shoulder. Finding his seat so that Sheppard could take off Ronon thought about what he'd done wrong.

Looking at Lindsey he watched the way her hair slid foreword flowing like water across her cheek. Without thinking he lifted his hand and allowed the back of his fingers to caress her cheek as he slid the fall of hair behind her ear. She looked as startled as he was at the impulsiveness of his gesture. Giving her a slight smile he withdrew his hand and settled back in his seat and allowed his eyes to travel the length of her before turning toward the front again.

Teyla noticed the gesture and approved, but still thought Ronon was a how would John put it…ah, yes…Ronon had acted like a horses ass and should be made to pay dearly for his mistake. The look in his eyes as he stroked the other woman's hair was one she's seen in John's eyes many times, but had failed to recognize it for what it was.

Some how seeing that look on Ronon's face as he looked at Lindsey solidified its meaning for her and Teyla felt her heart race. John had desired her for many months if that look was anything to go by and that fact made her warm inside. He had waited giving her time to grow accustomed to his feelings for her, telling her with his eyes that he cared; that he loved, that he wanted all of her. Not just her body, but her soul as well and that was a wondrous revelation for Teyla.

Her eyes fell upon John and found him glancing at her in that overtly secret way he always does. When he caught her glance she slowly smiled and allowed her eyes to say all the things his had been saying for so long…I care, I love and I want you John Sheppard.

When his eyes widened and she could see the sheen of emotion glittering in his eyes she knew he'd seen and understood that she was finally ready to take that last step in their relationship.

When they landed in a clearing not far from the settlement Teyla took her leave and Lindsey walked with Colonel Sheppard and Ronon to a secluded spot surrounded on three sides with a natural rock wall. At the place where the two side walls met up with the back wall a man made dirt dune sat covered with a black tarp. She'd seen something similar to this on Earth when General O'Neill had insisted that all Daedalus crew members, scientists specifically, qualify on the shooting range incase the need should arise and the scientists needed to aid in the defense of the ship and its crew.

Lindsey had done rather well with the nine millimeter hitting her targets in the general area if not on the mark. She enjoyed the power of the P90, but hadn't been very good with it and she was damned sure she would never be able to point either one at another human being. She was sort of a pacifist at heart and that she was sure would thrill Ronon to the very bottom of his soul.

When she pictured the look on his face she found herself snickering and decided to play with the bossy lug head. When he turned and glared at her she wondered if he'd read her thoughts, but that couldn't be so she dismissed it.

Colonel Sheppard took the time to explain the workings of the P90. How to remove the clip and load a new one and then he explained how to remove the safety how to choose single shot or fully automatic. Then he handed her one of the weapons sans the magazine.

Taking it gingerly she grasped the weapon in her left hand. She looked at the Colonel before she spoke reciting all the information she'd been given at her last lesson on Earth.

"The P90 triple rail utilizes 5.7 x 28mm armor piercing rounds; it has a blowback mechanism from a closed breech and a cyclic rate of fire of 900 rounds per minute. The P90 is the weapon of choice for close combat and urban areas. It has a maximum effective range of 200 meters and can penetrate 48 layers of Kevlar at that distance as well as the PASGT Helmet." She picked up a magazine and inserted it into the weapon. "The top loading 50 round magazine allows for a compact weapon that is completely ambidextrous and the empty casings are ejected downward so that they don't interfere with the user. The full length top rail is suited for a variety of optical sights," she gestured to the sight, "and the two side rails can be used for tactical lighting or external laser sights." Lindsey gestured to both as she spoke.

Checking the safety she set the weapon on the table in front of them. Both men were gaping at her as though they were fish out of water. When the Colonel had regained his senses he smiled and gave her a brief nod, "Well, now even I didn't know all that," He said and she could tell he was just kidding and she could also see he had been enjoying explaining the weapons capabilities to her. "So, the training indicated in your file is correct?"

"Yes," she said feeling a little like a know-it-all and even felt bad for having sucked the fun out of the Colonel's demonstration. "I know the facts and have a good grasp on the theory, but putting those into actual practice is a little out of my grasp. At the risk of making 'It' angry," she gestured toward Ronon. She hadn't forgiven him for not complimenting her hair. "I really hate the idea of pointing that thing at a human being."

Ronon had remained silent during the exchange but found that her attitude was beginning to bother him more than one of Rodney's scientific lectures. Straightening to his full six foot five inch height he stepped in closer to the irritating woman.

John seeing that things were about to be said he wasn't sure he wanted to hear said quickly clipped his P90 to his vest and murmured, "I think I hear Teyla calling me," he hitched his thumb over his shoulder and lit out like the hounds of hell were on his ass.

Lindsey and Ronon paid him no attention as they glared at each other. Ronon's voice was a barely controlled growl as he spoke, "You make absolutely no sense!"

"I make no sense," she pointed to her own chest. "I make perfect sense buddy! You are the growl-ly, bossy, Cro-Magnon that doesn't make sense.

"I make sense," he stated firmly.

"Not to me you don't," Lindsey said as she glared at him crossing her arms across her chest. "You go all caveman about me wearing my hair down and then have a cow when I try to make it look nice."

"I happen to have liked your hair long," He said leaning down to glare more fiercely into her face. "It was pretty," his eyes traced over her now bobbed hair and his still growling voice softened.

The way he said that made tears prick at the back of her eyes, but she didn't let them past. That is all she needed was to cry in front of him. She'd felt so good about her hair when it was done. "Well, its cut now and there isn't anything that can change that so I guess you'll have to just…" putting out her hand she asked no longer meeting his eyes, "Do you have my pins I can put it up so it won't bother you. I should have stood my ground this morning and put it back up instead of trying to…just give me the pins."

Ronon sensed that he had hurt her somehow and knew it had to do with his comments about her hair, but wasn't sure what exactly he'd said that made her seem so defeated. Then like a wraith stunner it hit him the words he'd just said and when she demanded the pins he'd taken that morning he frowned. Instead of placing the pins in the outstretched hand he grasped it and placed it over his chest where his heart beat.

"No," he said quietly reaching to thread the fingers of his other hand through her hair. "It is still beautiful and I like it down. You will not hide it from me."

"But," she started to protest, but he silenced her with a look.

"The caveman has spoken," he smirked. "Now show me that you can use these weapons or, I will have a cow."

Teyla was not surprised when John entered the village. Not with the way Ronon and Doctor Novak seemed to affect each other. When John came to her side she noted that he stepped close and angled his mouth close to her ear so as not to interrupt Halling. Who was addressing the village about the activities he and some of the other men had in mind for the festivities.

"They are already at it," his amused whisper sent shivers down her spine. "I think maybe Ronon has bitten off more than even he can chew."

"Lindsey is a far more complicated woman than either you or Ronon guessed."

"That's for sure," John sighed and leaned his hip against the tree she rested against. "The woman spewed out the P90 facts like she was ordering pizza."

"Stole your fun I see," Teyla teased as she slid a sideways glance in his direction. "She lacks confidence and has a soft heart. She will not bend as Ronon hopes and it will take an extremely dire circumstance to make her act contrary to her nature."

"Well, I think," John said contemplatively an almost evil smile gracing his lips, "that it couldn't have happened to a better guy. Besides at least she'll have the knowledge in case that dire situation ever does arise."

"I agree," Teyla said as she refocused her attention on Halling and the other men. She loved her people they were always a soothing comfort when she was hurt and a balm of gladness when she was sad, but she had moved beyond them in the two years she'd fought along side John and his people.

"I have missed this," she murmured, "The simplicity of the old ways."

John turned to her with a frown that clouded his eyes, "Are you sorry you made the decision you did?"

Teyla thought about that for a moment a slight smile adorning her lips as she slipped her fingers into his, "No, but I would have regretted my not making it."

John smiled and moved just the slightest bit closer to her, "So would I."

It was several hours before John and Teyla made their way back to the firing range laden down with gifts from the villagers. When they arrived they found Lindsey with a P90 in her hand and a determined look in her eyes. John noted that several of the newly replaced targets were pock marked from recent weapons fire.

"Your taking too long," Ronon's voice rang out as they watched Lindsey line up her shot.

"You said that I was supposed to only hit the man behind the other man and I can't do that without taking my time." She turned to glare at the man that was leaning negligently against the table beside her. "I want to hit the bad guy not his hostage."

"In taking your time you give him the opportunity to shoot you instead, Lindy." He moved to her side raising his weapon he fired a round that caught the 'bad guy' between the eyes. "See easy."

"For you maybe, but I worry I might hit the innocent person instead." She turned and lined up her shot again, "and didn't I tell you not-," she fired a shot which hit the innocent person she was supposed to be saving. "Damn it! I asked you not to call me that!"

He ignored her irritated tirade and simply gestured for her to continue. "Again, you should keep practicing."

Lindsey grumbled under her breath but did as he said. Taking the time to line up the shots each time and hoping she would hit the correct target. She'd fired five more rounds when Teyla and John joined them and announced it was time to go home and still had not hit the target she was aiming at. She had been increasingly closer, but close wasn't good enough in a life and death situation and she felt drained by her inadequacies.

"Hey, kids having fun?" Colonel Sheppard asked.

"Oh, yeah," was Ronon's sarcastic reply and she was only sorry he'd beaten her to it. Flipping the weapon's safety on, she unhooked it from the sling and plunked it on the table beside Ronon before walking away from the two men and heading back toward the jumper.

Teyla wasn't far behind and the Colonel and Ronon followed her. When they were all back aboard the jumper Teyla sat beside Lindsey and Ronon road shotgun on the return trip. Teyla showed her the many things she'd gotten from the village including a leather shirt and pants handcrafted by the Athosians. When Lindsey admired them Teyla smiled and said, "I am glad you like them. I believe they are your size and should be quite comfortable. It is winter on Regeara so there is a matching long coat lined with soft fur."

"Thank you it is very beautiful but, I thought I would be wearing my flight suit," Lindsey asked confused.

"I discussed with Colonel Sheppard while at my village that it would be best if you and Ronon appeared," Teyla frowned as though searching for the correct words, "suited to each other."

"Oh," Lindsey's eyes flew to Ronon's he was a very 'earthy' looking male and honestly if you put them side-by-side the idea would most likely never occur to anyone that he might find her the least attractive.

"Thank you then," she smiled feebly and took the cloths from Teyla. They were very soft and she was amazed by the fine craftsmanship of the items. What on Earth and in two Galaxies had she been thinking? Ronon was a man's man he could probably have any one of the woman in Atlantis panting after him. He was bossy and surly and he had a habit of heating up her body without conscious thought and she liked it. Liked him and had started to believe Teyla might have been right about his also liking her. She had to get herself and her thoughts under control because damn it, it would hurt like hell to find out he didn't.

Ronon had noticed Lindsey's pensive look when she accepted the cloths. Had watched as she ran her eyes over him with a frown, maybe she didn't want to dress in cloths that would suit him.

He'd been thinking about what to do ever since they arrived back at Atlantis and went their separate ways. He passed his room and glared at the wall separating them. He'd heard her door chime open a few moments earlier, but had not yet decided what he should do about the clothing situation.

Walking out onto the balcony they shared Ronon moved quickly to her door and it sighed open almost instantly. When he entered her room she was wearing the cloths Teyla had given her in the jumper. The red brown leather looked beautiful against her pale skin. The pants were supple and fitted as though they were a second skin. She seemed to be having trouble with the laces at the back of the shirt and was holding the edges together in back with both hands. He simply stood watching her as she turned to find him standing in her room.

Lindsey nearly jumped out of her skin when she turned and found Ronon standing just inside her balcony door. With a startled yelp she nearly let go of the edges of her shirt which would have constituted tragedy in her world.

"For the love of ~_hiccup_~ GOD would you ~_hiccup_~ please stop ~_hiccup_~ doing that?!" She glared at him menacingly, but he just found that sexy as hell.

Moving to stand in front of her he smiled down at her. "I didn't mean to frighten you," he said as he studied her face and then let his eyes slip lower to the deep V-neck of the sleeveless leather blouse. "I needed to speak with you."

"Then perhaps you should ~_hiccup_~ try knocking next time," She offered with a glare.

Gently turning her so that she faced away from him he brushed her hands away and murmured, "I'll take care of the back you adjust the front."

He worked the leather laces until the shirts pieces were closer together, but toward the top the pieces didn't quite meet leaving an inch or so of creamy skin visible between the laces. "Is that too tight," he asked as he smoothed his fingers over her sides to rest on the three inches of exposed flesh at her waist between the top and the pants.

He felt her tremble beneath his fingers and stepped closer to her pulling her backward to rest against his chest. From over her shoulder he watched her hands flutter nervously above the creamy flesh exposed by the deep neckline and the tight laces.

Lindsey was like a ripe fruit begging to be picked and tasted and the leather outfit only accentuated her lush breasts and womanly hips. Skimming his fingers back up her sides and over her shoulders stroked his long fingers up both sides of her neck and then back down again. Each stroke downward he allowed his fingers to stray a little lower.

They were both breathing heavily, and they seemed to breathe as one being, and when she made a small lustful sound in her throat and reach behind her to clutch his thighs his control snapped.

His left hand slowly slid down over the creamy flesh exposed by the neckline of her shirt even as the fingers of his right hand encompassed her neck and turned her head for his kiss.

Lindsey was on fire. Everywhere he touched her she burned. The hand at her throat scorched her as he claimed her mouth in a fiery kiss unlike any she had ever experienced before. She felt his other hand trace downward over her exposed flesh to tease the achingly erect nipple beneath the leather and lower still.

She felt his fingers spread wide along the naked flesh of her belly and two skimmed beneath the edge of the shirt as two others delved beneath the waistband of her pants; strong, firm and unmoving, pulling her back into his large frame.

His tongue possessing her delving deep and feeding her need for more. She was so lost in the dark animal hunger for more of him so when she felt his fingers push lower skimming the very edge of her feminine curls she panicked and wrenched her mouth from his with a frightened whimper.

He released her immediately and stepped back. She couldn't believe what had nearly happened, what she had nearly allowed to happen. What the hell was the matter with her she'd only known Ronon for a grand total of twenty-six hours and she was on the verge of complete surrender.

She'd only had one disastrous sexual encounter in grad school and she had dated the guy equally disastrously for three months before he'd gotten as far as Ronon had in a day. Taking a deep breath she looked at Ronon he looked just as dazed as she did. When he finally met her eyes they held the same intensity as before, but were guarded.

"I should not have done that," he said his voice was a deep animal growl. "It won't happen again," he allowed his eyes to rake over her from head to toe. "My job is to protect you and when we go to Regeara you will not need to worry that there will be a repeat of my actions here."

He was gone before she could tell him it wasn't his actions that had her so wound up. Damn it she wished she could take back in time five minutes and just let him take what she'd offered. Stop her silly reaction and just experience Ronon Dex all six foot five inches of him.

After Ronon left Lindsey changed out of her new outfit and took a long shower. Longer than she normally allowed herself she was just so tense. When she could not justify her actions any longer she turned the water off and slipped from the cubical and wrapping herself in her favorite fluffy towel.

Lighting a few of the candles around her room she dropped the towel and dressed in a pink sports bra and heather grey loose fitting shorts. She combed her hair back slicking it against her scalp and then went out onto the balcony to do her kata. She had only just begun her routine when she heard movement from Ronon's side of the Balcony.

"Do you mind if I join you," he asked in his deep voice and Lindsey could detect no trace of weariness or anger.

"Please," she answered quietly and gestured for him to stand with her. "Do you want me to explain the movements?"

"No," he looked at her his eyes steady as he came to stand next to her. "The movements I can learn, but the other part I might need you to explain that."

"The relaxation," she asked with a smile. "You appear very relaxed most of the time."

"Sometimes things are not as they appear." He told her as he waited for her to begin the movements again. "It has been more than seven years since I was able to truly relax. When I came to Atlantis I gained a measure of peace, but even here when I no longer need to run I…" He stopped as though realizing he'd said more than he liked.

Lindsey smiled not mentioning his slip and nodded before speaking quietly. "You will have to try to empty your mind of all the things that you've done through out the day. Stand with your feet shoulder width apart and breath deeply in and release all the tension in your body."

"That will take more than a few minutes," he told her with a smirk.

"I am sure it will," she smiled back and then explained, "just relax each muscle group and once you have done that we'll start."

"Okay," he lowered his head as he'd seen her do and then concentrated on the deep breathing and relaxation. "I'm ready."

Lindsey slowly began to do her kata and Ronon joined her and didn't miss a beat, moving in sync with her. She found she enjoyed having him there beside her moving in the familiar rhythms of the kata.

When they were finished she was reluctant to leave his company, "Will you sleep better tonight?"

At first she thought he wouldn't answer her, but then he turned to her and his intense eyes answered with a truth that he was reluctant to admit to anyone else even those here that he trusted with his life. "I sleep very little. For seven years I ran from planet to planet, to stop would mean death for not only me, but also any human that might have the misfortune of meeting up with me."

Lindsey felt her heart ripple with compassion for him and all he'd been through. Moving she wrapped her arms around his waist surprising him for a moment. Once the shock wore off he wrapped one arm around her shoulders and allowed his fingers to filter through her drying hair. Lindsey laid her head on his chest and listened to his heart beating.

They stood like this, for a long time both reluctant to move. Ronon broke the silence with a gruffly whispered command, "Go to bed, Lindy, I'll see you in the morning." His hand still in her hair he tilted her face up to meet his kiss. Unlike his previous kisses this one was gentle and sweet and all too short.

When his hand left her hair and he stepped away from her she felt very alone and she wished she was brave enough to take his hand and lead him to her bed, but she wasn't. He turned her toward her door and watched until she was inside and the candles extinguished before he moved to his side of the balcony. There he would he would sit and watch over her before finally succumbing to sleeps hungry grasp.

Three short hours later, and his day was in full swing. Lindsey was pissed with him for making her run 'again', but she'd made it slightly farther than yesterday. They made it to the gym and argued over the fact that she refused to spar against him. Finally, not at all used to defeat or liking it much she agreed to use the staff against the punch dummy.

They went their separate ways to shower and change for their trip off-world with plans to meet in the cafeteria for breakfast before their pre-mission briefing.

All had gone according to plan and they stood in the service line ordering their breakfasts. Ronon was having a hell of a time not kicking the overly attentive food service worker's ass. The man's eyes were practically glued to Lindy's chest. The next time the man bothered to raise his eyes from her chest and look in the general direction of her eyes Ronon was ready. He gave the man his best feral glare and then steered Lindy to a table in the corner.

She seemed oblivious to all the extra attention she was receiving and that was the only thing that kept Ronon from doing something very much in character for him. As it was he wanted to order her to put on the coat Teyla had provided, but figured that would just get him in trouble again. He watched her cut into her pancakes with the side of her fork and when she caught his gaze on her she smiled a little and blushed, before looking back to her food.

"Aren't you going to eat," she asked after she finished her bite of pancake.

"Yes," he growled and took a bite of his eggs. She smiled again and continued eating periodically glancing around the room. He was able to eat and even began to relax when she finished her breakfast and instead of leaving waited for him to finish his.

When he was finished as well he gathered their trays and took them to the disposal and wash station. It was something that John did sometimes for Teyla which always made her smile and so Ronon decided if Teyla liked it maybe Lindy would, too. She had given him an extra bright smile when he'd done it so Ronon felt very satisfied with himself.

That is until he turned around and found one of the science geeks leaning over her with one hand on the table and another tracing her shoulder. He watched from across the room as Lindsey shied away from the scientist and even went so far as to rest her elbows on the table in an attempt to obstruct the other man's view down her shirt.

Ronon must have looked fierce because the bodies between himself and Lindsey seemed to disappear before they could hinder him. When he arrived at the table and got a closer look at Lindsey he felt his temper rise even further, but it was his words that made Ronon act.

"…not as uptight as you were in grad school. I might be willing to give you another go now that you aren't so…" The man never got a chance to finish his words because Ronon grasped the hand at her shoulder and giving it a simple twist had the man flat on his back at her side and one hand at his throat.

"Doctor Novak isn't interested," Ronon growled, "Now, when I release you I want you to apologize for getting into her personal space and then move along."

"Ronon let him go," Lindsey's voice was perturbed as she stood and tugged on his arm. Slowly he released the man and stepped back with Lindsey close beside him. "He was being his usual infuriatingly obnoxious self he can't help being that way he never learned how to be anything else."

When Kavanagh stood up rubbing his throat glaring at both Ronon and Lindsey he made the unwitting mistake of opening his mouth, "Is this your trained pet or something. I should have known the only way to loosen you up would be…"

The fist that connected with his jaw and sent him sprawling was unexpected and very powerful. Kavanagh lay stunned across the table for a moment before the stars he was seeing abated enough to give him a clear view of the person that hit him.

"You hip me," he said as he gingerly pinched his nose to stop the bleeding. "I am your superior, Doctor Novak this will go in your record."

Lindsey stood cradling her throbbing hand, totally ignoring the son of a bitch she'd had the misfortune of having a short yet totally disastrous fling with in grad school. She had an I.Q. of 210, but that didn't mean she never did anything stupid.

"I don't think so, Doctor Kavanagh, as a visiting liaison from the Daedalus Doctor Novak is under my chain of command." Rodney came to stand beside the three of them. "You see I was sitting right over there and heard everything that went on here as did several others." He glanced around waving his hand at the people seated at his table. "The expedition heads frown on sexual harassment and nearly every word out of your mouth to Doctor Novak was of an inflammatory sexual nature." Rodney turned and looked around the room, "would anyone like to attest to the fact that Doctor Novak was defending herself when she struck Doctor Kavanagh?"

Every hand raised even across the room at tables that clearly could not have heard what was going on, but had seen the good doctor lay out a man that had pushed many of them to plot and plan the perfect murder. Just because they planned it didn't mean they got to go through with it. Hell many of them were already planning to pay a great deal for a copy of the security vids from the commissary. Something like that only happened once in a lifetime.

When Kavanagh pushed his way out of the commissary Rodney turned back to Lindsey a smug look on his face. "You have no idea how satisfying that was. It almost makes you getting the Regeara assignment worth it."

When Rodney left there was a mad rush for the door as all of the commissary's occupants wanted to get first dibs on the security tapes. Lindsey moved her hand and pain shot up her arm causing her to give a startled gasp. Ronon took her hand gingerly into his inspecting the already red and puffy knuckles.

"You hit him," he said quietly his green eyes probing hers.

Lindsey nodded, "I don't know what came over me, but when he called you a trained pet I just reacted."

Ronon's lips lifted in a brief smile, "This is why I wanted you to spar with me. It might have saved you a bit of discomfort."

"Yeah, well no one is perfect," she smiled ruefully. "I honestly never thought I would use my powers for evil."

"Come on let's get this looked at. They are expecting us in twenty minutes for our permission briefing." Ronon gently led her through the halls of Atlantis to the infirmary.

Lindsey's first trip through the Stargate was exhilarating and not just a little disorienting, but Ronon was waiting for her on the other side to help her orient herself by wrapping his strong arm around her shoulders. Taking a few deep breaths the nausea passed and she was able to smile her thanks.

"Wow, I read many second hand reports about gate travel interfering with the equilibrium, but they only mentioned it in passing."

"With each trip you become used to the effect it has on your body." He picked up the two packs he'd set aside when he first stepped through the gate to check for any hidden dangers. "I notice nothing when I go through the gate anymore."

"Lucky you," she smiled weakly and glanced around, "I expected there to be a welcoming party."

"Yeah, me, too," he slung the packs over his left shoulder and glanced around wearily. "Something doesn't seem right about this."

"But Dr. Weir said they received confirmation from the Regants regarding our visit."

"Yeah, but it wasn't audio or visual," Ronon gave the terrain a closer inspection before putting his hand on her leather clad shoulder. "It is too cold to stand around here the town is this way," he guided her along the paved path.

"They seem pretty advanced," Lindsey said when they could see the buildings from the top of the hill. Ronon stopped for a moment and stared moodily at the metal and stone structures.

"Setedan looked much like this," he said as he finally took his eyes from the buildings and looked to her and his eyes were troubled. "Lindsey there is something wrong here. When we made our first and even second contact with this world there were many people moving about the city. We could see them from this rise, but…"

"But there is no one in the streets today," she finished for him and he nodded. "What do you think is going on?"

"I don't know," he muttered as he slipped a small knife from his belt and pulled her into a light embrace. "Hide this in your boot. Pretend to be tired and sit over there on that rock and try to hide it without being obvious."

Lindsey took the knife and leaned into him for another moment, before moving to the rock to do as he asked. When she had hidden the knife Ronon handed her a canteen of water and one of the power bars. "They will expect you to be weak and defenseless. If something happens they'll expect me to be the threat." He knelt beside her and smiled, "Let them think you are weak it should keep them from searching you too thoroughly. I will protect you as best I can, but you might need that knife if something happens to me."

"Nothing will happen to you," she insisted as she broke off a piece of the protein bar and slipped it between his lips.

Ronon lifted his hand to her face and smiled as he ate the offering. "We are being watched, Lindy." She was handling the idea of a threat very well. Leaning close he pressed his forehead to hers, "most likely from the trees behind you."

He saw her eyes dilate and she struggled to swallow her bite of the protein bar. When the hiccoughs started he knew he'd frightened her. Handing her the canteen he stroked the back of her neck to sooth her.

When she had herself in control she gave him a slightly embarrassed smile, "Sorry about that."

"No, reason to be sorry, Lindy," Ronon's intense gaze met hers and he spoke softly. "We are going to head down this hill. When we get to the bottom we'll be out of sight of the city and anyone who might be watching us from there." He leaned in and pressed his lips to her cheek and nuzzling his way to her ear. "When we get to the trees on the left I need you to start complaining. Refuse to walk any further what ever. I'll take care of the rest."

His breath tickled her ear and sent shivers down her spine and the brush of his stubble against her cheek made her breath catch. On impulse she framed his face with her hands and leaned in kissing him deeply, before pulling away to murmur, "For luck."

"For luck," he stroked her hair behind her ear.

When they reached the trees she asked loudly if they could stop again to rest and Ronon gestured for her to sit and once again handed her the canteen. He had her sit on a low stone between two larger boulders just off to the left of the paved trail. He knew there were at least three men following them in the trees to their right, but he had been unable to detect any movement in the trees directly behind Lindsey.

Standing directly in front of Lindsey he made sure that they would need to come through him to get any where near her. The Regants had gone to great lengths to get a scientist of her caliber here and he wasn't going to let them get their hands on her, "Have your weapon ready."

They were probably getting impatient and having her remove her weapon would make them edgy as well. He watched as she limbered her weapon and confidently flicked off the safety though she aimed it at the ground in an unsteady two-handed grasp.

Ronon didn't have to wait long for the first man to make his move and when he heard the rustling of feet on dry leaves he spun around and took the man out in one smooth motion. The second man was a little harder to spot, but he was also quickly dispatched Ronon had only just missed being wounded by the man's barrage of laser fire.

He was an open target and he knew it, but leaving Lindsey unprotected was not an option. The third man was elusive and Ronon was beginning to get annoyed. He felt something impact with his shoulder with such force he was spun around. Using the momentum of his body he continued around and was able to take out the third man before ending up on his knees.

He heard Lindsey's startled cry and was able to displace the burning, ripping pain in his consciousness with his determination to get her out of here. She was at his side, before he could stand on his own, helping him to his feet and leading him to the safety of the rocks. They could hear voices and running feet coming from the next rise and Ronon knew that time was short and they had to get out of their before the others arrived.

Pushing through his pain he grasped her arm and pulled her past the rocks and deep into the forest. Ronon ran quickly through the underbrush after all he'd had seven years worth of practice running from the wraith and he wasn't going to be trapped by these men.

Lindsey stumbled along beside him, but only kept up because he would not release her arm and was dragging her along. She didn't fight him and fought to place her feet as firmly as she could so that she wouldn't hinder him. They ran full out for what seemed like hours, but could only have been several minutes and Lindsey could feel her chest constricting with the burning need for oxygen.

She found herself wishing she'd arrived in Atlantis weeks ago so she would have been used to running by now. Ronon was badly wounded she knew that because the hand that clutched her arm was slick with blood that ran from his hand and leaving a trail down the soft leather of her new coat. Lindsey wasn't that kind of doctor, but she was smart enough to realize that, that much blood was a bad thing.

They broke through the trees into a rocky open area intersected by a river. The muddy water raged along its raised banks and basically cut across the path blocking their only way of escape. She could hear men clambering through the forest behind them and wondered what they could do now. The rocky wall to the right was too steep to climb and it was too cold to brave the river even if it had been less fierce. The Stargate was to their left, but that would be the first place they checked for them.

Ronon pulled her to a stop and glanced around presumably seeing all that she had, but he seemed less concerned about their lack of options. Lindsey wasn't sure if that was because of the blood loss or because he actually had a way out of this.

"Come on," Ronon commanded as he pulled her toward the raging river, "We don't have much time."

As they got closer and closer to the rocky edge Lindsey started to back pedal, "We can't go in there," she protested but Ronon wasn't listening.

Instead he was peering over the edge at the rocks below them. Seeming satisfied he turned to her his eyes flat and emotionless. "I am going to lower you down once you are down follow the bank back toward the Stargate, but don't go for the gate until late tomorrow night they will be expecting it. I'll lead them away from you as long as I can, but you'll have to make it to the gate on your own."

His words scared her it was more than her having to fend for herself it was the final way which he spoke that squeezed her heart.

"If you think you're going to get out of watching over me that easily your mistaken mister." She told him fiercely, "We gate out of here together or we don't gate at all."

"We have no choice," Ronon glared at her, "Do what I tell you."

"No, now either we run together or we take our chances with those men." She glared back just as fiercely. "You choose!"

"You were so manageable back on Atlantis," he muttered but once again grasped her arm and they began running for the trees parallel to the paved path they had taken earlier and headed back toward the gate.

"No," she panted at his side. "On Atlantis I let you think I was manageable because I think you're cute when you get all bossy."

Ronon only grunted at that as his eyes swept the terrain ahead for the best path through the thick trees. After a moment he veered toward the river and they scrambled down the embankment and ran along the river's edge. The temperature was dropping and that meant that night was coming. That might mean the men would most likely stop searching until morning, but it meant that without shelter they would likely not survive the frigid night air.

Feeling light headed and sapped of energy Ronon was thankful when he noticed a darker shadow in the rocky wall bordering the river. On closer inspection he found that it was a small indention just big enough for two people to hide if they pressed close together.

It wouldn't be the most comfortable, but it was something to get them out of the air before the night damp fell and chilled them even further. Lifting Lindsey he handed her the packs, "Wait here and be quiet. I am going to move up into the trees and make a false trail to as though we are headed for the path."

When he made to move away Lindsey grasped his uninjured hand, "Ronon?"

He held her hand for a moment and let his thumb caress the back of her uninjured hand. "I will be back before dark."

"Promise," she demanded fiercely.

"Lindsey," he tried to reason with her but she simply stared stonily at him.

"I know you will keep your promise if you make it," she told him with a glare, "So, make it and get it over with."

"Fine!," he huffed. Now lay still and be quiet no matter what you hear. Understood?"

She nodded and watched as he backed away from the opening in the rocks. While he was gone she found the med-kit and took an inventory of what they had on hand. It wasn't nearly enough to be of any use to Ronon; a few bandages, some antiseptic, and a bottle of extra strength Tylenol.

They shadows had lengthened alarmingly and Lindsey was starting to shiver from the cold. She had opened the thermal blankets and pulled them both over herself trying to create a warm pocket. When Ronon returned he would need all the warmth she could generate.

She tried to tell herself that he was fine, but Ronon was taking so long. He had promised to be back before darkness fell, but that time was fast approaching and now she was afraid he had been unable to keep his promise.

She heard scuffling and then Ronon was pulling himself wearily into the little cavern. He was breathing heavily and he looked pale.

"I need to look at your shoulder," she said as she raised herself up on her elbow spreading the thermal blankets over him and fumbled with his jacket.

"No, it stopped bleeding," he stayed her hands and laid his head on the backpack she'd been using to pillow her own head. His fingers were icy as they grasped hers. "It will wait till morning and we have more light."

"Ronon," she pleaded but he simply pulled her so that she lay over him. Her legs falling to either side of his and his good arm wrapped around her shoulders. Staring at him with worried blue eyes she gave in and lowered her lips to his brushing a fleeting kiss along the pale line of his lips.

The hand about her shoulders slid up the column of her neck and buried itself in her hair urging her head to nestle into the side of his neck. "I have lived through much worse," he murmured against her temple.

That thought made her want to cry, but she didn't. She didn't doubt he had endured worse, but what plagued her was whether or not this would be the one time that it didn't have to be worse to be bad enough. She wanted to check him over and clean the wound, but instead she lay quietly against him and hoped that what little heat she could give would fill his shuddering frame.

The night was dark and filled with nocturnal sounds, but they were oblivious to the eerie music of this alien planet. Sleep came swiftly for Ronon and Lindsey was glad, because in sleep the shuttering that had wracked his body eased. She watched over him for a long time before sleeps soft grasp took hold and she joined him in rest.

Lindsey was floating in that hazy middle that was near wakefulness, but was reluctant to relinquish her grasp on the warm comfort that enveloped her. She was sleeping on her stomach and that was odd because she never slept on her stomach. The other thing that bothered her was that the hard surface she lay upon was hotter than it should be. It was that thought that brought her close enough to awake to realize that she still lay above Ronon and he was moving restlessly beneath her and his face against her cheek was burning with fever.

Squirming so that she could raise herself up a bit to get a better look at him in the first violet hues of predawn she found his face flushed and sweat slicked. Finding the canteen and one of the field dressings from the med kit she dampened the gauze and gently wiped at his face.

He muttered and turned his face into the cool cloth instinctually seeking relief from the burning heat that consumed him. She stared at Ronon with wide-eyes as he stared up at her with glassy uncomprehending ones. Smiling gently she gave him a soft kiss and wiped his brow with the cool cloth once more.

The way he watched her every move Lindsey had the feeling that Ronon didn't know what was happening to him. Every time her hand moved back to his face his eyes would harden and he would tighten his jaw as though waiting for her to hurt him. To ease his discomfort and confusion she moved slowly and spoke softly to him about everything and nothing at all.

When it was full light outside the tiny cavern Lindsey lit the flashlight and shifted further down his body to straddle his thighs. She had to clean his wound even though it was evidentially already infected. That was a bad sign and it would be painful. When she'd shifted down his body Ronon's eyes had flared and his hands had come to rest on her legs just above her knees, but he didn't protest.

Lindsey smiled at him and stroked his cheek again before murmuring, "Its okay I'll try not to hurt you," she slowly started to peel the flap of his coat's lapel away from the wound and was disturbed when it would not come away immediately.

The blood from yesterday had dried caking the cloth of his jacket and shirt to the wound. Biting her lower lip she met his eyes and felt herself drawn into him. "This might hurt a little," she said as she pried the coat away while trying to hold the cloth of his shirt where it was. She was afraid that to remove both too quickly would not only be painful, but start the bleeding again.

It took several moments to finally expose the fabric of his once white shirt. Now however it was ominously dark with dried blood. Pouring a portion of their water on the mattered fabric she let it sit hoping to make its removal easier on him.

Reaching into her boot she removed the knife he'd given her yesterday intent on carefully slitting the front of his shirt down the middle. She had no sooner unsheathed it than her world spun out of control and she found herself on her back trapped beneath Ronon.

Shocked she stared up at him. The hand of his injured arm was wrapped around her wrist while his other hand encircled her neck. Lindsey swallowed convulsively for a moment, but calmed herself. Carefully she laid her injured hand over the one at her neck and she felt a slight tremor run through his fingers.

She knew that if he truly wanted her dead she would be dead already. "I'm sorry," she stroked the back of his hand softly and smiled as comforting smile as one could muster when staring potential death in the face. "I was trying to remove your shirt." She gestured to his shoulder and his fierce gaze shifted only slightly to look down at the stained material.

When his eyes found hers again they had an oddly vacant glossy look and she could tell he was extremely feverish. He most likely didn't even remember her from Atlantis, "It's me, Ronon." She ran her injured hand along his arm slowly and allowed the back of her fingers to stroke his cheek. "I won't hurt you but I have to look at this," Gingerly she let her fingers slip down to cover his wound and the fingers at her neck tightened minutely and his eyes flared.

"Please, Ronon, its Lindsey." She pleaded quietly with him and she saw a slight flicker of recognition in his eyes.

"Lindsey," his voice was rough and deep with confusion as he slowly released her throat and wrist. "Sorry," he murmured as he shifted his weight off of her.

"Its okay, baby," she moved with him so that they could re-take their earlier position. "You didn't hurt me." She leaned in and gave him a gentle kiss at the corner of his lip. Ronon's whiskers tickled her lips and found herself rubbing her cheek back and forth over his. Taking a deep breath she whispered. "I have to take your shirt off I need to clean your wound."

Sitting up she met his eyes and then lifted the knife to cut his shirt down the middle. The right half came away without trouble, but the wound and the blood had dried on the other side virtually gluing it in place.

Biting her lip she started to ease the fabric away from the tattered flesh. She felt him tense and the hands that had once again come to rest on her knees twitched as though he wanted to tighten his grasp. She'd almost exposed the wound when the material stuck as though on a snag and his mouth clenched and his eyes closed.

Lindsey found herself trembling with tears in her eyes afraid to move lest she hurt him again. She took a deep breath she closed her eyes. "I'm gonna do this and I have to tell you," she said her eyes still closed. "I think it is going to hurt no matter how careful I am." She needed to do this it was too important to wimp out now.

Releasing her pent up breath she opened her eyes and found him watching her again. Smiling tremulously she strengthened her resolve and reached for the edge of fabric again. When his fingers stopped her she was confused, but when he reached over and yanked the fabric away from his wound she cried out her breathing jagged as tears poured from her. He himself hadn't made a sound, but that didn't mean he hadn't felt anything.

His eyes were tightly closed and he hadn't breathed since he unmercifully did what she had tried so hard not to do. When he was well again Lindsey was going to kick his ass and she was going to kick it good after that little stunt.

"Remember when I said I wouldn't hurt you?" Her question was rhetorical and her retort stern. "Well, when I get you back to Atlantis the first thing I'm going to do when you are out of the infirmary is kick your ass from this galaxy to the next!"

Using the wet gauze she cleaned the dried blood from his chest and shoulder. The wound was large and the skin was already bruised from the force of the impact, but she could see that is was also red and inflamed.

She could see the rough edges of cloth fragments in the center and using the tweezers from the med-kit she extracted them and was horrified when fresh blood welled up in the wound. "You are bleeding again."

Holding gauze over the wound to suppress the bleeding she met his eyes and smiled gently. "You sure know how to show a girl a good time," she teased. "Do you want some water?"

She quickly opened the canteen and helped him lift his head enough to drink. Taking two of the Tylenol from the bottle she gently placed them between his lips and then helped him drink some more water.

When he was lying down again she handed him a protein bar and told him to eat. The next part of her plan was the antiseptic and that meant pain. "You know you are awful quiet," she told him as she replaced the soaked gauze with a fresh one and was happy to find the bleeding was once again subsiding. "I'm used to your bossy caveman ways and this silence is really starting to make me itch."

"Nothin' to say," he responded. "You seemed happy to talk so I let you."

"Yes, well, it is time for the antiseptic," she lifted the bottle so he could see it. "Anything you wanna say before I start?"

"Yeah," he said a slight smile on his face. "But I think I'll wait until we get out of this."

She tilted her head and looked at him strangely, "Okay, here it goes."

By the time she'd finished cleaning the wound tears were streaming down her face and her hands were trembling, as the juxtaposition Ronon hadn't made more than one deep growling moan the whole time. He'd squeezed his eyes shut and gritted his teeth, but after the initial reaction he'd been silent.

Lindsey's fingers fluttered over his chest trying to comfort them both. Wiping her bandaged hand across her eyes she tried not to think about the fact that there had been no exit wound. It was probably the only thing that kept him from bleeding to death, but leaving it in his shoulder was unthinkable. She had to get him back to Atlantis.

She felt his right hand shift up her thigh and along her side until it came to rest at the side of her neck. "Don't cry," his gruff whisper brought another sob tearing past her lips and he gently pulled her down until her face was in the crook of his neck again. "Shhh…don't cry."

"Sorry," she murmured and pressed her lips to the underside of his jaw. "When I feel out of control I cry."

"And that hiccoughing thing," Ronon asked.

"When I am scared or flustered," she admitted with a sigh.

"Did I scare you?"

"No, I scared me when ever I saw you." She let her fingers slide down his cheek and then his neck in gentle repetitive movements. "But you did fluster me a time or two."

"Why," his voice was a soft and intimate as hers and it made her shiver. Thinking about his question she debated telling him the truth, but finally decided this was too important to be evasive.

"I," she swallowed. "I was attracted to you and aside from one very unpleasant experience I haven't a clue what that means or even what to do about it."

"That last night in Atlantis…" he prompted softly as his fingers rhythmically stroked her hair.

She felt her skin flush and she burrowed deeper into his neck memories of his hands and lips on her flashing through her mind. "I was frightened," she whispered and felt him stiffen.

Moving so she could look into his eyes, "I was frightened that you would be disappointed in me. I'm not…" His eyes glittered fiercely and his fingers tightened at the base of her neck pulling her down for a passionate kiss that was both demanding and giving.

When he eased her mouth from his, she could see the same need in him that flowed through her. "When finally we mate…" his eyes burned into hers. "The only disappointment will be that I can not be inside you every moment of every day," Lindsey's breath caught in her throat at the thought. "But I will do my best."

"Damn," she said on a shuttering breath. ~_hiccup_~

Ronon lay beneath Lindsey's slight weight and watched as night fell. She had finally fallen asleep a few hours ago after he insisted that they had to wait till after dark to make their way to the gate.

Ideally he would wait another day or two before making for the gate. However, this wasn't an ideal situation. He was used to long periods of inactivity as he hunted and was hunted by the wraith, but his wound was already infected and if he didn't get them through the gate soon he would be useless to Lindsey.

He let his fingers play through her hair as he thought about how gently she had cared for his wound. He hadn't experienced such gentleness often in his life and that made this all the more…special…made her all the more special. She'd cried for him and that was something he could not remember anyone doing before.

Even Teyla had been sympathetic, but had not shed a tear for him and his loss. Yet, that first night he'd watched her as she read his file and had been surprised when tears had formed on her lashes and fallen to her pale cheeks. That was when her annoying habit of hiccoughing had lost its ability to annoy him. She was feisty and she was strange and she had cried for him.

Her strangeness changed to beauty as he watched her perform her kata that night and he watched her beautiful hair sway about wild and free of its strict confinement. He'd recognized her wildness connected to it; to her through those moments. On the inside she was wild and she tried so hard to hide it from everyone around her, but she couldn't hide it from him. He had discovered her secrets and he wouldn't let her cage that wildness any longer.

Lindsey shifted and snuggled deeper into his chest. Her cheek was pressed to his bare chest and he felt her breath sigh across his flesh making it prickle with awareness. The evening was full dark and it would be time to move out soon. With a gentle hand he stroked her awake.

"Time to get out of here," he whispered when she stirred and then pressed her lips into his chest.

"I know," she spoke and her lips caressed his still hot flesh.

"Shift over against the wall," He scooted to his right and toward the opening as she shifted in the opposite direction. "Stay here until I come back."

She barely had time to murmur her agreement before he was gone from sight. She made sure their things were packed back into the bags and the knife was back in her boot while she waited. After what seemed like an eternity Ronon was back and though his brow was still slicked with his fevered sweat seemed steady. "Let's go," he commanded as he helped her down from her perch.

"Are they still looking for us?"

"I think they gave up the search." He stopped her when she started to slip the backpacks onto her own back. "They are now just waiting for us to return to the gate."

After he struggled into them and adjusted the weight to a more comfortable position he found Lindsey glaring at him, "What?"

"I could have carried those," she narrowed her eyes and tried to look fierce, but only managed cute and kissable.

"I can't be the caveman if I let you carry the heavy bags," he said as he leaned in and kissed her nose. "Besides we will have to move quickly and even wounded I am more able to handle the weight of our packs."

With that said he grasped her arm and headed them through the trees. Lindsey was keeping a silent tally of all the things he was going to hear about after he was out of the infirmary. It was becoming quiet long.

It took them an hour to reach the trees that skirted the paved piazza that held the Stargate and what they found when they got there made Lindsey want to cry again. The area surrounding the gate was teaming with men in unrecognizable military uniforms. There was a strange device hooked to the gate which glowed with an eerie green color.

Her spirits fell, they'd hooked up a portable shield device, which meant they couldn't gate out and re-enforcements couldn't gate in. "Not good," she panted as she watched the men form groups of four and then station themselves at intervals along the perimeter of the piazza.

Lindsey's eyes fell on two men talking beside the DHD and the device they held made her insides roil with fear. "We need to get closer to that shield generator," she pointed to the men there. "That device it must be what they use to transmit the text data they sent to us on Atlantis."

"You think they are going to be sending a message to Atlantis?"

"I think they already have," she told him grimly, "and if we don't get that shield down and a rescue team tries to gate in…"

"Understood," Ronon dug through his pack and extracted two blocks of C4 and the detonators. "Why didn't we hear anything on our radios?"

"Maybe they have a dampening field around the gate that interferes with audio/visual communications, but allows for data burst radio waves." She theorized unhelpfully.

"How much time do I have?"

"I don't know," she shook her head. "If they just sent the message then it will take…what about thirty minutes to rally a rescue team?"

"Less, Sheppard isn't one to leave his team mates in trouble for long." Grunting he removed the second pack which he handed to her. "Can you send a message through the Stargate if it opens? If they don't lower that shield…"

"I can try, but there won't be anyway to tell if it gets through."

"Do what you can, but stay hidden." He checked his weapon and made sure it was off stun because he fully intended on killing anyone he came in contact with. "I'm going to the city and set up a diversion. You get a message ready to send and when I get back we'll wait for the fireworks and then take the gate."

"That sounds confident," she looked at him with large frightened eyes.

"No time for anything else," he gave her his cocky grin and then turned disappearing into the night.

Lindsey worked feverishly to ready her laptop to send a wireless radio transmission. She could only hope that she was close enough to the gate to transmit. Typing in the last of her code she heard the gate activate and with fingers trembling she gave the command to send praying that it made it through before anyone stepped through.

John stared down at the gate from the control center as it was dialed; beside him Elizabeth folded her arms across her chest.

"I don't like this," she said with a pensive look.

"Neither do I, but Ronon is part of my team and as spunky as Doctor Novak turned out to be," John said wearily. "She is no match for the Genii or their newest ally."

The gate engaged and the room was filled with the familiar blue light bathing the waiting team. Straightening he turned toward the stairs to join his team. When he reached Teyla she handed him his P90 and they turned as one toward the open gate.

"Alright people we know the drill," John's voice called as he gave the forward signal.

When her laptop beeped indicating that the message had been sent and received she gave a sigh of relief and closed her eyes only to open them in horror as a loud thud was heard from the gate's shield. She sat frozen her breath stuck in her chest and she could feel a sob welling up in her throat, but she swallowed it down. Now, wasn't the time to give in to her emotions she would save that for after she and Ronon got out of this horrid place.

"There goes that M.A.L.P.," Rodney muttered as he hit the control panel and disengaged the gate.

John stared at the now inactive gate and then turned and glared up at Elizabeth, "What the hell'd you cut the gate for?"

"We received a transmission from, Doctor Novak," She said as she moved to the stairs to meet John and Teyla. "She told us of a portable shield blocking the gate and advised us not to allow personnel through."

"Then it was wise to send the M.A.L.P.," Teyla interjected and shifted slightly closer to John's side. "Was that all she was able to share about their situation?"

"Yes," Elizabeth said a look of pride on her face. "She was able to send a far bit of text let's get into the briefing room."

Ronon made his way back to Lindsey's side. He was glad that she'd been safe while he planted the C4, but when he drew up beside her he realized something was wrong.

"Lindsey," he whispered and when her eyes met his they were wide and agitated with a solemn cast. "What? Are you okay?"

"The…the gate activated," she whispered and he could hear the quiver of emotion in her voice.

"You sent the message," he prompted.

"Yes, but…I don't think they got it in time."

Ronon stilled, "Why do you say that?"

"Before the gate disengaged I heard…something…like a thumping sound." Ronon now understood her agitated manner and felt his own heart clench at the thought of one or more of his friends having met their end against the shield.

Closing his eyes he took a deep steadying breath and then opened them again and pulled Lindsey into a quick hug. "We can not change it. You did well." When he scooted away he looked her in the eye, "We can only depend on ourselves."

Glancing around the piazza he noted that the guards had thinned out some, but there were still too many to take down with the limited firepower they possessed. "We can not worry about what might have happened. The explosives should detonate in a little over five minutes."

"What is the plan," she asked visibly strengthening her resolve.

"I was able to place the explosives where they should generate secondary explosions and if we are extremely lucky a chain reaction that will take half the city with it. When that happens they will send most of these men back to the city thinking we are there. I will take out the remaining guards and you will take care of the shield generator, dial the gate and send our IDC." He smiled and wiped a trembling hand across his forehead. "We gate home and as McKay would say it is a cakewalk."

Lindsey's eyes narrowed as she noted his trembling hands and pale drawn features, "How are you holding up?"

"I am fine," he gave her his trademark grin and hoped that would be enough to satisfy her, but knew it wasn't.

"Liar," she whispered as she reached out and stroked her cold fingers over his fevered face and down his neck. It felt so good to have her cool fingers on his skin that he had to fight to keep the moan from escaping.

Lindsey was concerned about the heat radiating off of him, "You are too hot. Fevers this high are dangerous."

"Like I said we can't worry about what we can not change." He moved until he was close beside her, "Be ready," he kissed her thoroughly and whispered fiercely, "Be safe!"

They waited impatiently for the diversion and when it came three-fourths of the men left to defend their city. Ronon waited until they were a fair distance from the gate before making his move. He took out four of the remaining guards from his place beside Lindsey and then moved with deadly purpose into the piazza firing his red blasts with deadly accuracy.

Lindsey had her 9mm out and moved quickly to the generator she took a moment to scoff at the rudimentary design before turning it off and then put a couple well placed 9mm slugs into its workings hopefully putting it out of commission for sometime to come.

Turning her attention to the DHD she dialed the gate and sent her IDC and then pulled her laptop from her pack and sent a text message just in case they felt the identification code had been compromised.

When that was done she turned and watched as Ronon engaged in hand-to-hand with four of the uniformed men. He was like a tiger, quick and lethal, as he fought. Pulling her eyes away from him she glanced around the piazza and noted the bodies that littered it. Ronon had single handedly taken out nearly twelve men.

She heard a groan and a thud and turned to see the last man falling into a heap with the other three his head at an unnatural angle. Ronon was standing his head down and his breathing was rugged when he straightened and turned to her she could see the pain in his eyes. She could also see the fresh blood that was soaking through the bandage.

Ronon was making his way to her when she saw something that made her heart clench. A soldier had his weapon leveled at Ronon's back.

"Turn around," the soldier commanded his voice tight as he clenched a hand to the wound in his side.

Ronon straightened his shoulders and stared deeply into Lindsey's eyes, "Go!" he mouthed.

Lindsey trembled with fear for him and his command put her back up. Clenching her jaw she shook her head imperceptibly in the negative. She watched his jaw tighten and then his body tensed. He didn't look happy with her and she figured she deserved that look, but she wasn't leaving this planet without him.

"I said…TURN AROUND!" the man behind him shouted. Lindsey noticed that the man paid her no heed his focus was solely on Ronon. Taking a deep breath she raised her 9mm and aimed at the man over Ronon's shoulder. Her eyes flicked to Ronon's and she noted that he gave her a barely noticeable smile of encouragement then she was focused on the man behind him.

She could still remember the firing range and the fact that she had been crap at hitting the bad guy and had in fact taken out all six of the innocent people she had been trying to save. This was only slightly different from then. Slight because Ronon was standing at least ten feet away from the man with the gun and because the distance between her and the target was three times that making the target even smaller than the one at the range.

Stilling her nerves and all the little voices telling her that this was wrong that she couldn't do this she leveled the weapon and sighted down the barrel as she'd been taught and taking a deep breath she let it out as her finger squeezed the trigger.

Sitting at the briefing room table the four of them went over the message from Lindsey. "Ronon's wounded," John murmured as he finished skimming the block of text. "But from what she says I think they might be able to take out the shield and gate back."

"You read her report of the situation," Elizabeth looked at him incredulously. "There are at least twenty-five enemy soldiers guarding the gate."

"Ronon can handle it," John assured her and glanced at Teyla with a confident air. "This is Ronon we're talking about, not McKay."

"Excuse me," McKay's indignant reply was drowned out as the gate activated and the alarm sounded along with the announcement that it was an off-world activation.

John smiled smugly as he stood up, "See I told ya!"

The others followed him from the briefing room feeling hopeful. When they arrived at the control center Elizabeth called out, "Do we have an IDC?"

"Yes, ma'am we are receiving Doctor Novak's IDC along with another text burst."

"What does it say?"

The tech glanced over the text and then snorted. "It says, "Hiccough!"

There was a bark of laughter from John as Elizabeth gave the order to open the gate and they all turned to await the arrival of Ronon and the good Doctor.

There were varying degrees of shock playing across the many faces when the two stumbled through the gate and the gate room's inhabitants became unnaturally silent.

Lindsey just stared stunned as the man fell behind Ronon. She wasn't even aware Ronon had moved to stand with her still outstretched weapon pressed to his bare and bloody chest and wrapped his arms around her lifting her off her feet and taking her mouth in a fierce kiss as he headed for the gate.

Wrapping her legs around his hips and her arms carefully around his neck she gave into his kiss letting him take what he wanted; take what they both needed. Lindsey never even noticed they trip back through the worm hole she was so wrapped up in what Ronon's kiss was doing to her.

She was only barely aware when Ronon went down to his knees and then pressed her backward onto the gate room floor, his tongue delving even deeper as he devoured her. When his mouth moved from hers and on to her neck she gasped and opened her eyes; jerking in surprise she found herself staring up into Colonel Sheppard's eyes. ~_hiccup_~

With a knowing smile the Colonel glanced to his right and asked Teyla, "Wish we'd thought of that."

Teyla simply arched her brow as she turned back to the couple on the ground. Ronon had finally realized they were not alone or that Lindsey was hiccoughing again and had eased himself away from her.

When the others noticed the blood covering them both the medical team that had been standing by moved in and they were whisked away to the infirmary.

Lindsey was thankful for the company of the rest of Ronon's teammates while she waited for word from Doctor Beckett. Rodney had gone in search of sandwiches earlier and had returned with coffee as well.

Lindsey couldn't help but think that it was taking too long. Wrapping her fingers around the warm cup she calmed her nerves. Teyla came to sit beside her, "He will be well."

Looking at Teyla hopefully she nodded in agreement, "I know, but I can't help but…" She shook her head.

"You have grown very close to, Ronon. This is something that we," Teyla said and her eyes glanced around to indicate the others of her team, "do not begrudge you, but you are not here on a permanent basis."

Lindsey's eyes widened, "Are you warning me off?" She was confused hadn't Teyla been encouraging her to go after Ronon just two days ago?

"I am simply stating a concern," Teyla answered. "Ronon has lost much in his life and we do not wish to see him hurt."

"What Teyla is trying to say," Rodney spoke as he pushed himself away from the far wall, "is that we would appreciate it if you would think about what you are doing before you do something that will only hurt you both in the end."

Lindsey stood up so quickly that the now chilled coffee sloshed over the rim of her cup. Her eyes moved from Rodney, to Teyla and on to the Colonel and studied their intent expressions.

"Firstly, I understand your concerns," her voice was quiet with a lethal edge to it. "But perhaps you should check out the facts before you make a conclusion." She shot a piercing glare at Rodney. "I put a request chit in with Doctor Weir to be allowed to remain on Atlantis before Ronon and I gated to Regeara. And secondly…" She faltered.

"Secondly?" John asked from his place across the room.

"Secondly it would take more than the three of you to keep me away from him, but you can try." With that she left the room she was angry and hurt and she couldn't stay here without bodily injuring one or more of them.

She met up with Doctor Beckett in the hall and was relieved when he smiled happily and assured her in his brogue, "He's fine and he'll be a wakin' up fairly soon."

"Can I sit with him," she asked as she felt a weight lift from her shoulders.

"O' course, luv, I was left with strict instructions that ya be allowed in as soon as ya was able."

"Thank you, Doctor Beckett."

"No thanks're necessary, dear." He gestured toward the room, "Ya go on now I'll tell the others the news."

Lindsey moved to his bedside quickly and took his hand. He was pale but his skin was cooler and he was breathing easily. Lindsey felt tears prickle at the back of her eyes and she kissed his forehead before sinking into the chair beside his bed and burying her face in his neck letting the tears fall.

From the doorway the rest of the team watched as the woman cried, "Well that could have gone better." John said as they exchanged uncomfortable looks. "Something tells me that when he wakes up and hears about it we are all in some pretty deep karmic pooh."

"We will have to apologize," Teyla agreed, "but I doubt that Doctor Novak will mention this."

"I have to admit," Rodney said with a trace of pride in his voice as his eyes focused on Lindsey Novak. "I worked with her for a year before being sent to Russia and I never knew she had it in her to punch Kavanagh or face down Genii/Regant troops. I wasn't surprised in the least that she reacted the way she did, but we had to be sure of her intentions."

As they stood watching Ronon's eyes opened and turned his head pressing a kiss to her temple. When she lifted her head he wiped her tears away with his good hand and then urged her forward for a gentle kiss, before turning his fierce eyes on the three people standing at the door.

All John could think was damn the man's unnatural hearing because they were definitely in for it now.

Ronon watched her as she worked through her kata. The sight of her lithe body had him hard and needy. He stalked her like prey with his eyes and felt his desire to possess every inch of her ignite a primal part of himself. Growling he moved from the shadows to press his bare chest to her back. She gasped and stiffened for a moment, surprised by his unexpected arrival, but relaxed quickly when his hands traced along her arms and settled at her neck gently urging her head back to rest on his chest below his good shoulder.

He was supposed to still be in the infirmary, but he'd persuaded the doctor to let him out early. She smiled at him as he lowered his mouth to hers. He had been thinking about this since he woke up in the infirmary four days ago and to say that he was on the verge of losing control was an understatement.

Lindsey had visited him everyday, but they were never alone and therefore he had been unable to get more than a chaste kiss from her in all that time. Of course his idea of chaste and those of others was quiet dissimilar. She'd been to the infirmary an hour ago with Teyla. They'd been sparring and the site of Lindsey in a sparring outfit similar to Teyla's had prompted his renewed efforts to be released early. Beckett had finally relented when he realized the man had little or no intention of staying in the infirmary.

So here he was with strict instructions not to pull his stitches and Lindsey's body clad in the scanty sparring outfit pressing provocatively against his. Allowing the fingers of one of his hands to span her neck he let the other glide down her arm so he could brush the backs of his fingers along the outside curve of her breast.

When she whimpered, he growled. When she shifted to her toes to meet his kiss with equal fervor he gripped her upper arm pulling her backward and through the automatic door into her candle lit room. Deepening the kiss he tightened his hold on her neck and his other hand moved to the quivering expanse of her abdomen.

He could feel her muscles tremble beneath her skin and he felt his cock grow heavy against her ass. Thrusting his hand under the waistband of the split panel skirt he wasted no time running his fingers through the damp curls at the juncture of her thighs. This time when she stiffened he growled and ruthlessly stroked his long fingers into her moist folds grazing her clit.

She wrenched her mouth from his with a startled cry and then rotated her hips forcing his fingers against her sensitive flesh as her ass ground into his cock. Using the hand at her neck to unlace the leather top he removed the offending garment and threw it to the floor. His eyes scorched her as they took in the sight of her erect nipples against the amber candle glow of her pale breasts. His lips, teeth and tongue claiming her sensitive neck his eyes trained upon her heaving breasts.

Wrapping his arm around her he clutched her breast and marveled at the feel of the tight bud of her nipple against his palm. They had adopted a kind of primal rhythm and with each stroke of his fingers against her clit she allowed her movements to caress him.

Lindsey had never felt anything like this and when he rolled her nipple between his thumb and forefinger her body burst apart and the inarticulate stream of sounds that exploded from her soul meant nothing to anyone except him.

As her body trembled with release he stripped her of her panties and then grasping her thigh lifted her foot to rest on the bed beside them. Sweeping the material of her skirt aside he fumbled with the tie at the waist of the white scrub pants shoving them to the floor and kicking them aside.

Bending his knees he guided his cock to her still trembling center. When she moaned and arched her back pressing her breast into his palm he thrust upward with such strength that he literally lifted her foot from the floor. He was buried so deeply within her that he rested against that one sweet spot that elicited such pleasure from her body that she came again.

The feel of her moist heat surrounding his aching cock and the trembling grasping tug of her orgasm pulled another primal growl from deep in his chest as he continued to thrust powerfully into her. Turning toward the bed he guided her to her knees and without missing a stroke he knelt behind her both hands on her breasts as he licked and nipped at her neck.

Each stroke within her tight channel forced a moan from her lips and he drank the sounds glorying in them. When he could not hold back any longer he thrust deep spilling his seed deep inside her with a roar her body milking all he had from his.

They slumped trembling forward sweat slicked back to sweat slicked chest. Their bodies intimately locked together; his covering hers their legs entwined both struggling for enough oxygen to fill their lungs.

Ronan slowly became aware of their position and gently shifted them onto their sides and turning her to face him. She had such a gloriously blatantly pleased look on her face that he felt his body stir again against her sweat slicked thigh.

She obviously felt it as well, because she opened shocked eyes and he had to stifle the rumbling laugh by burying his face in her neck. Where he gently scraped his teeth along the pale flesh and then worked his way to her left breast. Hovering over her once again taught nipple he met her gaze and flicked his tongue across the sensitive bud.

Rolling her to her back he settled between her damp thighs and with his intense gaze locked with hers he claimed her breast and marked her as his. When he had given each breast equal treatment he shifted lower. Her thighs spread wide to accommodate the width of his shoulders. His gaze burned her as he grasped her knees and pushed them to the mattress and a fraction or to higher opening her swollen sex to his questing mouth.

The trembling began in her legs before he had even lowered his mouth to her over sensitive sex and when he sucked the swollen bundle of nerves into his mouth working it with his lips and teeth she was already so far gone that she forgot to breath. Her chest burned with need, but it wasn't until she felt the thrust of his tongue inside her that she was able to suck in the much needed oxygen only to expel it in a primal keening that left her shaking and shattered.

Kissing his way back up her body he buried himself in her folds once more and exalted in the feel of her beneath him, around him, a part of him. "Mine," he growled as he pressed his forehead to hers and slowly shifted his hips away from hers and then equally slowly claimed her again.

She nodded unable to think beyond his long hard cock and its slow torturous journey to and fro within her. He wasn't happy with that. It wasn't enough for him, he wanted more, needed more and he would have it. Shifting his hips he pushed himself deep and ground out, "Say it!" He demanded with each thrust he hit that spot he'd found earlier that sent shockwaves echoing through her body and she couldn't think and her head tossed from side to side on the pillow.

With a growl he tunneled his hands underneath her and his strong fingers wrapped around her shoulders holding her still for his thrusts. "Mine!" he demanded, "Say it, Lindsey!"

Her body trembling on the brink she gasped out, "yours!" as she came with such violent shudders she thought she was breaking apart and flying to pieces. He thrust twice more before she felt the warm spill of him within her.

He slumped over her as they both fought for breath and exhausted Lindsey wrapped her arms around Ronon and they slipped into a languorous doze. Her last thought before her hazy sex addled brain shut down was that she finally got her man.

Teyla stood outside Lindsey's quarters with one hand raised to knock, John and Rodney had sent her to see if the other woman would like to watch hockey and share some popcorn and team bonding. That had been ten minutes ago. When she'd arrived she'd lifted her hand to knock and heard Lindsey crying out.

At first Teyla had been worried, but then she'd Ronon's deep rumbling voice proclaiming, "Mine!" So loudly that Teyla became immediately aware of what was taking place inside the room, and so there she stood frozen her hand ready to knock when John rounded the corner.

"There you are," He called a boyish smile on his face. "You're missing all the best McKay ribbing moments in this hockey match."

When Teyla just stared at him with a blank look on her face he hurried to her side. "Hey, are you okay?" He searched her face with worried eyes.

Before she could answer him another inarticulate string of sound poured from the room startling John who turned toward the door his eyes wide. The sound of Lindsey's enjoyment was followed by Ronon's voice fiercely demanding, "Mine, say it, Lindsey!"

Teyla watched as John's face spoke of his understanding and then he turned and pinned her with eyes that burned with carnal awareness of what was taking place inside the room. She'd seen that look before. One long ago day in the gym when John had done exceptionally well in battle and then proceeded to pin her to the wall and take their first kiss.

His eyes had declared her his as they stared her down. Daring her to contradict him and she hadn't. That look had frightened her because it was so out of character for him and she'd become worried for his well being. Seeing that look again now, she had to wonder if he'd kept that side of himself from her.

Could it be that the easy going, laughing man she sparred with had deeper, seedier desires? Why would he hide that fact from her? She thought she might know the answer to that, John was an honorable man, he worked with her and he respected her and obviously part of that respect entailed denying his baser instincts.

She couldn't fault him for that, she had not even admitted to herself until a few short days ago that she wanted him with an overwhelming passion that transcended all things terrestrial. They had been moving very, very slowly toward this understanding for nearly two years and here outside Lindsey Novak's room they took a giant leap forward.

Teyla thought it was that fierce dominant gleam in his eyes that would scorch her and leave her drifting like ash on the breeze. Only having seen it once before it had certainly kept her awake at night and fueled more of her fantasies than she could count.

When his eyes raked down her body she felt her insides quiver and she couldn't help a tiny whimper that escaped the back of her throat and John's eyes widened and his nostrils flared as he inclined his head, studying her every aspect of her through narrowed eyes, from her quickened breath to her oddly uncharacteristic fidgeting. Glancing around the deserted hallway he stepped close to Teyla forcing her to tilt her head back to meet his penetrating gaze.

It was Teyla's move, and when her gaze flick from his to stare at his lips with a hungry little mewl, a satisfied smile crossed his face. He reached out his thumbs bracketing her face angling it for his kiss.

Teyla wasn't surprised by the dominate way he took her mouth after all she'd guessed it would be this way between them, they had danced…no, sparred around the obvious for far too long for it to be anything, but incendiary. She felt her back come up against the wall and what little breath left in her lungs was forced out on a startled cry.

Not content to be simply taken Teyla wrapped her arms under his arms and grasped his shoulders firmly before flipping their positions. When his back hit the wall John broke the kiss and his eyes flared with the heat of the challenge he faced. He watched as she smiled smugly and then stood on tip-toes to seek his lips in a deep kiss meant to inflame.

John accepted the challenge and his new position against the wall with smug satisfaction as he grasped her hands and pinned them behind her back forcing her firm breasts against his chest. After all sometimes the weakest position in a battle had its advantages. How many times had Teyla brought him to his knees only to put him right where he wanted to be, head nestled against her breast?

She probably hadn't guessed that little secret even now and that made him haughty. He leaned in and gave her an open mouthed kiss that left no doubt as to his intent. Their tongues met like flint and stone sparking nerve endings into embers of suppressed desire.

She countered his move by trailing heated biting kisses down the side of his neck. He found himself thrusting his already throbbing cock wantonly against her belly and when Teyla straddled one of his legs and pressed her hip into his groin he saw stars.

Pulling his mouth away from hers with a hiss his head hit the wall behind him with more force than he'd anticipated and brought a measure of reality with the dull ache.

They were in the hall and that meant that just anyone out for a stroll could stumble across them. Taking a deep breath he pressed her firmly against the hard ridge of his cock. "I think it is about time we did something about this." He whispered in her ear. "Now, you can walk with me to my room or I can take you right here in the hallway, but either way I plan to make love to you. Tonight!"

She rubbed her hip against him and shuddered at the feel of him beneath the tight fabric of his pants. She closed her eyes and imagined lying in John's bed, legs spread as he thrust the entire thick, length of his cock into her tight folds, and she moaned. Opening her eyes she snaked her freed her hand and pushed it into his messy hair. Pulling his lips to hers in a kiss that was both dominance and submission she added fuel to the fire.

Then without a word she turned and on shaky legs led the way to his room. Once he realized they where she was going he could barely restrain his need to touch her with his hands; his lips, his tongue and his cock. He wanted all of her every inch of velvety flesh and every deep dark secret place crying out to be lit and exposed by the fire burning in him…between them.

When he finally found himself alone with Teyla behind the closed doors of his room he whipped his shirt over his head in one swift motion.

Leaning in to bite at her neck he gloried in the softness of her tender skin and tunneled his hands beneath her shirt. Not to be out done Teyla stepped away from his questing hands and crossing her arms in front of her met his heated gaze and slowly removed the garment tossing it to the floor with John's.

When she met his stunned gaze she had to smile, "Are you all right?" She asked when he made no move to touch her.

"Yeah, it's just usually it's about here that I wake up," he told her in that half-joking half-serious way of his, "and I was enjoying the moment."

"By all means," she reached behind her back and removed the last barrier between his gaze and her firm, heavy breast, "enjoy!"

He made an inarticulate sound somewhere between a groan and a moan. His eyes burned her when they met hers again. "You are beautiful," he whispered, "more beautiful than I can say."

Stepping close he leaned in and she closed her eyes lifting her mouth to his kiss, but it never came. At least not on her lips…instead she felt his lips wrap around her turgid nipple surrounding just the tip and then she felt his tongue teasing the sensitive bud. The move had been so unexpected that it wrenched a moan from her lips and then his hands were on her hips molding her to his thrusting hips as his mouth opened wide to devour as much of her breast as he could.

Until John Sheppard she had never understood the true pleasure her breasts could provide. It was during one of their sparring sessions and she had brought him to his knees her staves across his throat and the side of his head held tight to her breast. He'd been making some typical John Sheppard remark, but he'd also moved his head in a caress that had sent a flood of white hot desire to her core.

John bit her breast and sucked hard on the spot inducing a pleasurable pain that he soothed with a sweep of his talented tongue. Gasping she set to work on his belt buckle. Luckily she'd become accustomed to the odd fastener and she made quick work of it. Unbuttoning the five buttons was difficult when her hands kept skimming over the dark smattering of hair that blanketed his muscular chest, but she was soon victorious.

When her hands delved under the layers of his cloths and found him, hard and pulsing he moaned. Letting her breast slide from his lips with a groan he took possession of her mouth once again this time delving deep as he worked to remove the rest of her cloths. Once he'd worked the fastenings he guided her to the foot of his bed and helped her sit, before kneeling to remove her boots and socks.

He worked quietly and swiftly and once he'd removed them he leaned up and claimed her mouth in a gentle kiss as he worked both her pants and panties down her legs, discarding them in the pile with their shirts. Their eyes locked, his hands massaged her calves for a moment before slowly moving upward with a smooth calculated stroke. When he reached her knees he slowly pushed them apart, his eyes as intent as they had been that day in the gym glided over her eyes; her lips, her breasts and finally that secret place he had only ever dreamed of being.

He watched as his fingers glided up to the juncture of her thighs and then back to her knees. When they made their return journey he glanced up at her, "My hands look good on you," he watched his fingers glide over her inner thighs for a moment before he asked baldly, "I wonder what they'll look like with my fingers buried inside you as you cum?"

He met her eyes as his fingers once again neared the apex of her thighs and he smiled that knowing smile of his as he opened her folds and lowered his head to taste her. When his tongue brushed against the bundle of nerves they both moaned. John lathed and suckled her wanton flesh hungrily.

Teyla's hips writhed beneath the onslaught of this primitive kiss and she found her fingers buried in his messy hair alternately pulling him closer and pushing him away when the feelings became too intense. When he thrust his tongue into her slick channel he hummed his delight and the vibrations against her clit made her legs tremble. Intent on his task he licked and savored and tasted all her secrets until she was whimpering and pulling painfully at his hair desperate for the overload to end. Pulling her hands from his hair he placed them on the bed holding them their firmly.

Thrusting his tongue deep and then sweeping along her folds he pulled away to meet her agitated gaze. "Don't fight against it!" He released one of her hands and the fingers found their way between her folds and he thrust two fingers inside her. "I'm going to make you cum," he slide his thumb over her clit as he spoke with quiet conviction, "and you are going to stop fighting it." When his thumb slid over her sensitive bundle of nerves again she inched away from the intensity of the caress. "Do I have to make that an order, Teyla?" He asked as he added a third finger and buried them deeper than before as his thumb circled the nub.

"No, John…" she panted, "you do not, but I have one request."

"What?" He stroked deeper and curved his fingers gliding them across her sensitive inner muscles.

"Do not talk, do!"

He gave her a cocky smile, "Yes, ma'am." Then he bent and allowed his lips, tongue and teeth to work her clit as his fingers thrust into her making her shake until she could no longer remain upright and collapsed with an inarticulate growl onto her back.

John smiled as she finally stopped fighting his every caress and finally sank back unable to do anything other than accept the pleasure that made her body quiver. 'Teyla,' he thought as he brought her to a swift climax, 'this is Teyla; how she feels, tastes, breaths and screams when she cums.'

He rose on unsteady legs and looked down on her dark honey body bathed in the sweat he forged from her. His eyes took in every trembling inch of the woman he had met so long ago, legs spread wide in invitation. He watched her take huge gulping breaths her firm breasts tipped with erect nipples he'd tasted.

When he placed his knee on the bed between her weeping thighs she managed to open her eyes and the look of shear abandon in them made him throb and when she raised her self on her elbows eyes devouring the hard length of him with avarice intent, his cock wept to take its place within her.

So, intent was he in his goal that Teyla's quick movements stunned him for a moment when he found himself one his back with her slight body astride him. She took his mouth with such animal ferocity that he couldn't breathe and when she wiggled her hips and he felt the head of his cock slip into her tight little body his groan bounced off the walls of the room. When she slowly allowed him slide deeper just an inch he was able to bite back his cries, but when she raised her hips and he nearly slipped from her, his pleas echoed in the hall, but when she ruthlessly impaled herself to the hilt, his exultant yell was heard through out the lower south-east pier of Atlantis.

Teyla laughed with complete and utter joy at the glazed look of him beneath her as she drove them both toward completion. His hands clutched at her thighs and then one slid upward burying itself in her curls and making her falter the steady driving rhythm she'd started. The other teased her nipples before clutching her neck and pulling her down for a fierce kiss.

John dug his heels into the mattress and thrust up countering her thrusts and forcing her to take what he needed…all of him to the root…hand still clutching her neck he heaved himself into a sitting position and then flipped their positions. When her back hit the mattress John's body filled her pinning her to the spot.

He thrust forcefully into her deepest parts prodding her hidden pleasure points, but that wasn't enough for John he'd been so patient, waited so long…Withdrawing himself from her for a moment he slid his hands over her trembling and pleasure soaked body he grasped her knees and in a smooth motion shifted her legs up his arms until they rested on his shoulders and then he positioned himself and thrust deeply once more.

Slowly leaning forward he grasped her hands tightly in his and raised their twined arms to rest on the bed above their heads. Teyla's eyes widened at the new position and gasped as he thrust so much deeper inside her and ground himself against every pleasurable spot her body possessed she came again and his mouth drank her cries fiercely.

Her bodies milking and the new deeper penetration worked with her whimpering cries to pull his orgasm from him on the brink he pulled his lips from hers, "I'm gonna come…" he told her harshly sweat dripping from his brow, "come so deep in you." His body was shaking and trembling with the effort to prolong their pleasure. "Teyla…" he ground through clenched teeth. "God Teyla I…" She gave a keening cry as she came again and he exploded filling her.

He collapsed onto her, but once he was more aware he released her hands and allowed her quivering legs to fall back to the mattress and then shifting themselves until he could cover them with his blanked.

Teyla lay draped over John trying to remember why they did not do this long ago. Lifting her head wearily she met John's eye questioningly and he smiled, "Because it wasn't time then. We weren't ready."

Smiling her understanding she leaned forward and kissed him with trembling lips and happy tears in her eyes. "You have surprised me," she told him seriously.

"How," He asked confused.

"I never thought speaking could illicit such pleasure."

"I know what you could say to illicit pleasure from me right now," he whispered and ran his hand up her spine.

"I love you, John."

He smiled and felt his eyes well with emotion, "I love you, too, Teyla."

"See illicit pleasure…" she kissed his chest and he hugged her close to his side.


End file.
